Loeb still well in lead

Aside from Loeb's near complete domination of the day's action, Petter Solberg fell victim to engine trouble in the second to last stage as he was forced to withdraw. The effect being a slump to ninth in the overall standings and it remains to be seen whether the Subaru man will be able to race in tomorrow's final leg.

Gronholm and Solberg provided the sternest resistance for Frenchman Loeb, and the Finn took Stage 15 with a 2.6 second margin of victory in the first following the mid-afternoon break.

Stage 16 produced another masterful display from the leader to practically nullify Gronholm's previous win - Loeb finished 2.3 seconds faster than his rival to claim a sixth triumph of the day and stretch his overall lead at that point to 15.1 seconds.

Jari-Matti Latvala's seventh placed finish in the stage moved the Finn up to fifth spot, ahead of both Chris Atkinson and Dani Sordo, and thanks to a fifth-placed finish in the final two stages he flew up to fourth in the overall standings, although over a minute behind Mikko Hirvonen.

Following Petter Solberg's withdrawal, Stage 17 was claimed by Loeb who again finished ahead of Gronholm, this time by 4.3 seconds. Hirvonen, slow to start in the earlier stages, moved up to third overall as he benefited from Solberg's misfortune.

The Second Leg closed with another victory for Ford's Gronholm who beat Loeb to top-spot in Stage 18 by a mere 0.2 seconds. The day ended on a sour note for Dani Sordo though as he experienced problems which saw Loeb's Citroen team mate give away almost one and a half minutes, the result of which saw him fall down the overall rankings and out of contention for a top-five finish.