Loeb stretches lead after day two

The two drivers have been battling for the rally lead since the very first stage, with Citroen driver Loeb managing to edge away from Ford rival Hirvonen without ever establishing a sufficiently large advantage to feel comfortable.

Indeed Hirvonen narrowed the gap to a little over 10 seconds in the first stage of the afternoon, only to then lose four seconds when he stalled before SS20, and drop further time in the last stage of the day, leaving him 18 seconds adrift with just three stages scheduled on the final day tomorrow.

"I think something was wrong with the handbrake," he said. "Something similar happened in Turkey. We just sat there and lost time before we could get the engine going and start driving."

Loeb and Hirvonen's relentless pace has now taken them over three minutes clear of the rest of the field, with Chris Atkinson having moved up to third for Subaru.

The Australian has set rapid times throughout the day, and grabbed fourth from Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg early this afternoon before passing Dani Sordo (Citroen) for third in the final stage.

Sordo remains just one second behind Atkinson, with Solberg now nearly half a minute adrift in fifth but still 27 seconds clear of his elder brother Petter (Subaru).

Ford privateer Matti Rantanen continues to hold a secure seventh, and Toni Gardemeister (Suzuki) has edged away from Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson and established himself in eighth after his earlier gearbox issues.

Leading positions after day two:

Pos  Driver        Car      Time
 1.  Loeb          Citroen  2h33:43.5
 2.  Hirvonen      Ford      +   18.2
 3.  Atkinson      Subaru    + 3:03.6
 4.  Sordo         Citroen   + 3:04.6
 5.  H Solberg     Ford      + 3:31.6
 6.  P Solberg     Subaru    + 3:58.7
 7.  Rantanen      Ford      + 5:55.2
 8.  Gardemeister  Suzuki    + 7:28.6
 9.  Wilson        Ford      + 7:54.5
10.  Rautenbach    Citroen   + 9:29.1