Sordo closes on Loeb

Loeb started the morning over 40 seconds clear of the field after a commanding performance during leg one. He therefore took a relatively cautious approach to today's challenging Bosenberg and Panzerplatte stages, and saw his lead reduced as a consequence.

"He's pushing really hard," Loeb admitted. "I try to push, but it's difficult. I don't want to make a mistake, so when it's very muddy I don't take any risks, and Dani is pushing so hard."

The chances of Kronos Citroen allowing Sordo, who has been nominated as their second points scorer for the first time this weekend, to challenge his team leader for victory are remote, but Sordo is certainly enhancing his reputation by keeping Loeb under pressure.

"I will drive the same as now and afterwards we will see," said Sordo when asked if he was racing for victory.

Toni Gardemeister, driving a four-year-old privateer Citroen, now has a more secure hold on third place. He began the day with champions Marcus Gronholm and Petter Solberg breathing down his neck, but both Gardemeister's pursuers had bad mornings.

Solberg fared worst, retiring from the leg and probably the whole event when he hit engine problems early in Bosenberg.

Having dropped a lot of time due to a poor tyre choice on Friday, Gronholm was already downcast when he began leg two. He lost more ground to Gardemeister in SS9 and SS10 and is now 20.2 seconds behind in fourth.

"I'm just driving to keep the car on the road and waiting for next weekend," Gronholm admitted.

Gronholm's teammate Mikko Hirvonen is happier this morning and has closed to within 1.8 seconds of fifth-placed Manfred Stohl.

The inexperienced Andreas Aigner continues to hold a very impressive seventh in the Red Bull Skoda, while Stephane Sarrazin has now taken eighth from Subaru teammate Chris Atkinson despite lacking confidence in the Impreza's handling.

The charging Sordo was predictably fastest in SS10, but the identity of the SS9 winner was more surprising.

Skoda privateer Jan Kopecky was quickest of all in Bosenberg 1, beating Sordo by 0.9 seconds. He then snatched 10th in the next stage when Xavier Pons took a trip off the road and fell to 12th behind DTM star Mattias Ekstrom.

Leading positions after SS10:

Pos  Driver        Make           Time
 1.  Loeb          Citroen  1h 52:03.4
 2.  Sordo         Citroen      + 27.4
 3.  Gardemeister  Citroen    + 2:18.0
 4.  Gronholm      Ford       + 2:38.2
 5.  Stohl         Peugeot    + 2:56.1
 6.  Hirvonen      Ford       + 2:57.9
 7.  Aigner        Skoda      + 3:34.0
 8.  Sarrazin      Subaru     + 4:06.1
 9.  Atkinson      Subaru     + 4:11.1
10.  Kopecky       Skoda      + 4:55.3
11.  Ekstrom       Skoda      + 5:41.7
12.  Pons          Citroen    + 5:57.7
13.  Kahle         Skoda      + 7:56.8
14.  MacHale       Ford       + 8:23.2
15.  Wevers        Toyota    + 10:28.4
16.  P Solberg     Subaru    + 12:07.8
17.  Wilson        Ford      + 13:49.5
18.  Casier        Renault   + 14:05.2
19.  Tsjoen        Ford      + 14:49.4
20.  Pressac       Citroen   + 15:02.3