Loeb holds narrow lead

Citroen driver Loeb has an eight-point advantage over Hirvonen (Ford) heading into this weekend's finale, and moved into the lead on the first forest stage, Clocaenog.

"It was okay, but very, very tricky," said Loeb. "A lot of mud and the grip is changing at every corner."

It was Hirvonen who was quickest of all on Clocaenog, making up for a small time loss on the opening runs through the asphalt Great Orme test to get back to within a few tenths of Loeb.

"It's been a good start," said Hirvonen. "It's quite tricky with the light, it's surprisingly dark in the forest. But I'm quite happy with that time."

Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala had led after Great Orme, but was 6.3s off the pace on Clocaenog.

"I wasn't maybe having the best feeling on this stage," Latvala admitted. "It felt like the road was getting more and more slippery but it was a good start."

Loeb is the only works Citroen still running, as his team-mate Sebastien Ogier crashed on Great Orme.

Petter Solberg holds fourth in his private Citroen, 11.9s off the lead.

The Minis complete the top six, with Kris Meeke establishing himself in fifth - 6.8s behind Solberg and 8.6s in front of team-mate Dani Sordo, who holds a narrow advantage over the Fords of Mads Ostberg and Ott Tanak. S2000 graduate Tanak was sixth fastest on Clocaenog - an impressive performance by both the top-class newcomer and the DMACK tyres he is using.

Evgeny Novikov completed Great Orme in seventh overall in the Abu Dhabi-branded third works Ford usually driven by Khalid Al Qassimi, but lost 50s on SS3 and dropped out of the top 10.