Loeb in charge after leg two

The championship leader left service 27.9 seconds ahead of Gronholm after the Ford driver's pair of errors on consecutive stages in the morning cost him the rally lead.

There was a glimmer of hope for Gronholm when Loeb sustained damage to both left side tyres in the short but heavily rutted Rikubetsu spectator stage, which was being used for the fourth time in the weekend.

But even with his tyres beginning to come off the wheel rims, there was no stopping Loeb and he proceeded to set the fastest time in SS17, increasing his lead by five seconds.

Gronholm - who would also sustain similar tyre damage later in the afternoon - struck back by going quickest in Sipirkakim 2 and Menan Short, trimming three seconds from Loeb's advantage on each stage.

"I think it's difficult to catch him now after my mistake," Gronholm admitted. "But I'll keep the pressure up and wait for him to make a mistake."

The day ended with a double passage through the Obihiro superspecial adjacent to the service park, with Loeb beating Gronholm by a few fractions on each of their head-to-head runs.

The pair are therefore separated by 25.6 seconds going into the final leg, which is unusually long compared to most modern day three itineraries and features 94kms of competitive mileage over six stages.

The main story of Saturday afternoon was Petter Solberg's dramatic improvement.

Having limped through most of the rally with various problems, Solberg seemed pessimistic about his chances of getting back into the top six. But the Subaru emerged from the lunchtime service in much better health, setting top three times in every stage and coming within 0.3 seconds of winning Menan Short. In the process he closed to within 6.1 seconds of sixth placed Dani Sordo.

If he can pass Sordo when the action resumes on Sunday morning, Solberg's next target will be Manfred Stohl, who is currently 45.2 seconds ahead of Sordo.

Barring misfortunes, the other leading positions seem set. Mikko Hirvonen holds an ever more lonely third, and Chris Atkinson quickly cemented his fourth place after passing Stohl this morning.

Toshi Arai began the afternoon badly by hitting a rock and going off the road in SS16, unfortunately striking a photographer in the process. The man escaped with leg injuries and later sent a message to Arai imploring him to continue in the rally. The Japanese star now holds a distant eighth.

Leading positions after leg two:

Pos  Driver         Make           Time
 1.  Loeb           Citroen  2h 27:45.7
 2.  Gronholm       Ford         + 25.6
 3.  Hirvonen       Ford       + 1:43.1
 4.  Atkinson       Subaru     + 4:24.1
 5.  Stohl          Peugeot    + 4:40.4
 6.  Sordo          Citroen    + 5:25.6
 7.  P Solberg      Subaru     + 5:31.7
 8.  Arai           Subaru     + 6:39.7
 9.  Perez-Companc  Ford       + 7:53.0
10.  MacHale        Ford       + 9:23.1