It’s Ford time

Fastest time on the opening two tests carried S bastien Loeb (Citroen) into the lead. He won another three stages this afternoon to finish 61.4sec ahead of Chris Atkinson (Subaru). The Australian s only concern was a problem with the car s launch control system. Behind Latvala, Munchi s driver Henning Solberg (Ford) capitalised on Hirvonen s punctures to move into fourth, despite brake trouble on the opening test.

Stobart s Matthew Wilson (Ford) climbed to sixth, despite spinning and stalling on the morning s final test. Dani Sordo (Citroen), competing under SupeRally rules after retiring yesterday, won two stages as he fought to climb into the manufacturers points. The only major retirement was Petter Solberg (Subaru) who stopped after a broken driveshaft on stage 10 cost four minutes.