Loeb still leads, Gronholm charges

The top three all took a relatively conservative approach to the morning, with Loeb in particular keen to avoid the rocks and gravel that had been dragged onto some of the stages.

But in SS9 Loeb chose to cut loose and set the fastest stage time.

"I drove carefully this morning, but it was a bit too careful," he explained. "I was not in a good rhythm so I decided to go a bit faster."

Fellow Citroen drivers Sordo and Xavier Pons maintained their second and third positions.

After losing several minutes with turbo problems yesterday, former rally leader Marcus Gronholm has been on a recovery charge this morning.

The Ford driver was fastest through SS7 and SS8 (although Mikko Hirvonen and Francois Duval equalled his SS7 time) and moved up to sixth place.

The troubled Petter Solberg was one of those who lost ground to Gronholm. Struggling with severe tyre wear, Solberg dropped from fourth to seventh this morning. His problems were compounded by a spin in SS9.

"I lost a lot of time in that stage," said Solberg. "I am on soft tyres, so it is very, very difficult."

Privateers Alex Bengue and Jan Kopecky now occupy fourth and fifth positions, moving up partly because of Solberg's tribulations, but also because they have been setting an impressive pace. Bengue was third fastest through SS9.

Stephane Sarrazin is now eighth in the second Subaru. Although he has closed in on team-mate Solberg, Sarrazin still lacks confidence in his set-up and is coming under pressure from ninth placed Francois Duval.

Leading results after SS9:

Pos  Driver    Make     Time
 1.  Loeb      Citroen  1h 50:25.7
 2.  Sordo     Citroen  + 38.2
 3.  Pons      Citroen  + 1:13.3
 4.  Bengue    Peugeot  + 1:42.8
 5.  Kopecky   Skoda    + 2:00.8
 6.  Gronholm  Ford     + 2:15.2
 7.  Solberg   Subaru   + 2:39.6
 8.  Sarrazin  Subaru   + 2:42.5
 9.  Duval     Skoda    + 2:49.6
10.  Atkinson  Subaru   + 3:14.0