Martin bemused by fortunes

After a day of bizarre happenings, which began with Petter Solberg losing his lead in the stewards' room, Martin rose from fifth place to lead in a matter of a couple of stages, thanks to longtime leader Sebastien Loeb retiring and Marcus Gronholm losing time due to a power steering failure.

"It was a strange morning," admitted Martin. "I finished Friday in fifth place, started Saturday in fourth place and in two stages was leading. You always have to hope, but to expect a lead like this was too optimistic to even think about on Friday."

Martin is not yet entirely happy with the way he's performing either: "My driving was better than Friday, but not perfect. I'm fighting against myself and still can't find exactly the right rhythm, so it was a bit messy at times."

Ford's second driver Francois Duval is also well-placed to give his employer a top result. The Belgian is third overnight, just 3.6s behind second-placed Carlos Sainz.

Duval said: "I would prefer to finish third than risk going off the road chasing second. I need to finish in the points for Ford and I need to finish to improve my experience here so to go off wouldn't be good. I've made no mistakes and the car has been absolutely perfect but there's still a long way to go."