Loeb remains on top in Ireland

Despite insisting that he was driving safely to ensure he reached the finish, Loeb won all three stages on today's wet first loop.

"At the moment it's going well," said Loeb. "This morning, the first one was really tricky, the second one was okay, and this one was stage 13 - and I went off in Japan in the same situation on stage 13, so I was very careful. But no problem."

Sordo continues to back Loeb up in a Citroen one-two, despite sustaining minor damage and losing half a minute with his brief trip off the road in SS12.

The Spaniard is still a comfortable 47 seconds clear of third-placed Jari-Matti Latvala, who is determined not to repeat the error that cost him a potential first podium in Japan last month.

"It would be fantastic (to be third), but you know what happened in Japan - I got too excited," he said. "I have to keep my head cool."

Latvala is unlikely to come under pressure from works driver Mikko Hirvonen. His current fourth place will be sufficient to clinch the manufacturers' championship for Ford, and Hirvonen admitted that he was focusing on gathering the necessary points rather than chasing a podium.

"It's very difficult and frustrating," he said. "We're losing a lot of time all the time, which really doesn't matter, but I'm finding it very difficult to find a rhythm in driving.

"I'm taking every corner so slowly, making sure I get through it, but it's not so nice. I'm just trying to remind myself all the time that it doesn't matter, even if it looks really pathetic."

Petter Solberg also insisted he was concentrating on finishing rather than attacking, and felt his choice of cut slick tyres had proved incorrect. Yet with Hirvonen cruising, the Subaru driver has still closed to within 12 seconds of fourth position.

Privateer Subaru runner Guy Wilks remains in a lonely sixth, but there were substantial changes in the rest of the top ten during the opening loop.

OMV Kronos Citroen's Manfred Stohl lost seventh place after spending six minutes off course in SS10. He dropped to 15th place in the process, then recovered three places in the next stage only to go off again and retire in Tempo 1.

"We just slipped off the road and we could not get back on the road on our own so we had to wait for some spectators," said Stohl after the first incident. "Just unlucky."

That elevated Matthew Wilson to seventh place, while Ford privateer Gareth MacHale got ahead of Tim McNulty's Subaru in SS11 to take eighth and become the leading local contender.

That position became more secure when McNulty stopped with engine problems in the next test, but by that time MacHale had set his sights on Wilson's seventh place. The Irishman took 41 seconds out of the Stobart driver's adantage this morning and is now 33 behinds behind.

"We've lost too much on the first two stages," Wilson admitted. "I wasn't awake this morning, and I think he's got a bit of knowledge from last year of these sort of conditions. Hopefully on the second run through we can close the gap and try and defend it."

The attrition amongst the WRC field has allowed Production class leader Mark Higgins up to ninth, followed by Andreas Mikkelsen, who has suffered myriad problems with his independent Ford.

Henning Solberg (Stobart Ford) was the only one of the major Friday retirements to rejoin under Superally rules this morning, the Norweigan restarting in 39th place. Subaru's Chris Atkinson is also still running after his time-consuming accident on the opening leg, but remained a distant 59th at the start of day two.

Leading positions after SS13:

Pos  Driver     Car         Time
 1.  Loeb       Citroen     2h02:01.1
 2.  Sordo      Citroen     +    50.7
 3.  Latvala    Ford        +  1:38.2
 4.  Hirvonen   Ford        +  2:29.1
 5.  P Solberg  Subaru      +  2:41.7
 6.  Wilks      Subaru      +  5:02.3
 7.  Wilson     Ford        +  8:19.8
 8.  MacHale    Ford        +  8:53.0
 9.  Higgins    Mitsubishi  + 11:19.4
10.  Mikkelsen  Ford        + 12:13.3