SS6, Langan 2: Puras back on top

The Spaniard was fastest on this morning's first run (SS2), and he was even quicker going through this afternoon, finishing four seconds clear of his Citroen team mate Philippe Bugalski. Puras now has a slender 1.5-second lead heading into the last stage of the day over Panizzi, who was third fastest on Langan.

It could have been a Citroen one-two-three, but Sebastien Loeb couldn't quite match Panizzi's time, finishing half a second back in fourth. Didier Auriol was fifth fastest and Carlos Sainz was again the fastest of the non-PSA cars, rounding out the top six in his Ford Focus.

Behind Sainz, you couldn't separate Subaru's Petter Solberg and Markko Martin on SS6, the pair set identical times, 16.1 seconds off Puras' pace.

Marcus Gronholm wasn't quite as hot as he's been on previous stages - he finished ninth fastest on Langan and dropped two places back to fifth on the leaderboard.

Francois Delecour's Ford rounded out the top 10, but team mate Colin McRae again struggled. He finished the stage more than 30 seconds back from the leaders and will need to push incredibly hard on Saturday if he is to take anything from this rally.

For SS6 Langan 2 results, click here.

For full live timings table click here.

For full entry list click here.

For the itinerary click here.