Loeb takes control of Cyprus rally

The reigning champion leads Marcus Gronholm by 21.8 seconds. The Finn initially lost the lead with a spin during stage 14, and Loeb then blitzed him by more than 16 seconds in stage 15.

Gronholm again put his problems down to poor tyre choice, and also the fact that his rival is always so strong in the second run of any stage.

"There is nothing really wrong with the car, but I am just trying to keep it on the road," said Gronholm. "If we make the right tyre choice we can still fight."

The lead pair had been setting very close times in the majority of stages, and Loeb doesn't believe that the victory is now in the bag.

"It's not finished yet, Marcus can do some very strange things sometimes," he said. "In Japan I had a 30 second lead and it was five by the end, so it's never enough."

Mikko Hirvonen is in a comfortable third place, four minutes adrift of the leaders, but nearly a full minute ahead of Manfred Stohl in fourth.

Chris Atkinson went off the road and into a ditch in stage 15, ending his day and promoting Toni Gardemeister into the top five.

Xavi Pons is a long way clear of seventh-placed Petter Solberg, while his older brother Henning continues to have problems with leaking water inside his car.

Solberg tried to repair the leak earlier in the day, but when it let go again he had to put up with hot water not only soaking him, but spraying in his eyes.

Leading positions after Leg 2:

Pos  Driver        Make      Time
 1.  Loeb          Citroen   3h25:51.6
 2.  Gronholm      Ford      +    21.8
 3.  Hirvonen      Ford      +  4:06.1
 4.  Stohl         Peugeot   +  5:02.9
 5.  Gardemeister  Citroen   +  7:14.8
 6.  Pons          Citroen   +  8:06.2
 7.  Solberg       Subaru    + 11:35.7
 8.  Solberg       Peugeot   + 12:46.2
 9.  Atkinson      Subaru    + 15:14.0
10.  Sordo         Citroen   + 15:58.6