Loeb makes clean sweep

The Frenchman moved from third at the beginning of the day to first as he took a clean sweep to get the weekend"s action off to a start following the problems that forced the cancellation of all stages except the Cordoba Stadium Super Special on Friday.

Championship leader Loeb opened the day's action by coming in 4.1 seconds quicker than Subaru's Petter Solberg in the first stage. Marcus Gronholm was third, just half a second behind Solberg, and Loeb's team mate Dani Sordo was fifth best.

Loeb continued his bright start by taking the second, and longest, stage of the day with a time of 14:45.2, Ford's Gronholm moving to second in the overall standings as he finished 2.6 seconds off the Citroen driver's pace.

Loeb then made it three from three as he pipped Gronholm by 0.6 seconds in the third stage, continuing to frustrate the Finn.

The fourth stage, Valle Hermoso - a 10.95km sprint, saw Loeb and Solberg again complete a one-two as the 32-year-old extended his lead over the Norwegian to 13.2 seconds. Solberg finished 1.3 seconds behind Loeb on Stage 13 and finished the morning leg in third overall.

Mikko Hirvonen's challenge for overall third spot saw him finish just 0.4 seconds behind Petter Solberg as Loeb completed his five-star run with another win at Stage 14. Gronholm finished second to go into the afternoon break with a 9.8 second lead over third-placed Solberg, and Hirvonen was 16.2 seconds further down the order.