Loeb on verge of Catalunya victory

The world champion has nursed his lead through the first part of leg three, and will head the field by a surely unassailable 44.9 second margin when the action resumes following the final service.

After the second Kronos Citroen of Xavier Pons crashed out of third late on Saturday, Loeb was warned not to take any unnecessary chances. He therefore spent the morning with an eye on the chasing Daniel Sordo's split times.

"I see his times and try to keep the gap," Loeb said. "Now we don't have to make any mistakes.

"Our boss Mr. Van Dalen said because we lost one car yesterday now we have to finish. I saw that Dani relaxed a bit, so I also relaxed a bit. It's better, it's easier."

Local hero Sordo, driving a privately entered Citroen Xsara WRC, has also adopted a conservative approach to the closing stages.

"This position is good for me," he said. "It's not maximum attack, I've slowed down to finish the rally."

The fight for third remains the closest battle. Marcus Gronholm started the day just 4.1 seconds behind Peugeot privateer Alex Bengue, and felt that he would not have to push too hard to claim the final podium spot.

Although Gronholm was fastest through SS13, Bengue was only 2.5 seconds slower and temporarily held onto third. Gronholm moved ahead in SS14 (where he was quickest again), but Bengue remained sanguine, having known at the start of the day that he would almost certainly lose out to the former champion in the works Ford Focus.

"Third is not my target today," Bengue said. "We have had a lot of understeer and lost some time, but it's not bad.

"I am trying to do my best and we will see afterwards, but it's not a big problem for me."

Skoda duo Jan Kopecky and Francois Duval remain on course for fifth, while seventh placed Petter Solberg briefly looked like he might come under threat from Gilles Panizzi's flying Red Bull Fabia.

Panizzi was second quickest in SS13 and knocked Stephene Sarrazin out of the points in the process. He also closed in on Solberg, but the Subaru driver fought back in SS14 and now has a 20.9 second advantage going into the final service.

"I have a lot of understeer," Solberg said. "I push as hard as I can, but that's all I can do."

Leading results after SS14:

Pos  Driver    Make     Time
 1.  Loeb      Citroen  2h 53:28.3
 2.  Sordo     Citroen  + 44.9
 3.  Gronholm  Ford     + 1:57.1
 4.  Bengue    Peugeot  + 2:03.7
 5.  Kopecky   Skoda    + 2:42.5
 6.  Duval     Skoda    + 3:33.8
 7.  Solberg   Subaru   + 3:48.4
 8.  Panizzi   Skoda    + 4:09.3
 9.  Sarrazin  Subaru   + 4:13.1
10.  Hirvonen  Ford     + 5:04.8