World champion Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) extended his overnight advantage from 23.9sec to 25.2sec but there was more to the day than that.  Team-mate Dani Sordo blitzed the long stage more than 16sec quicker than the Frenchman and ended the morning just 6.6sec behind.  However, Loeb repaid the compliment on the re-run this afternoon to claw back more than 17sec, despite missing a braking point and side-swiping a bridge.  Each driver won three stages. 

BP-Ford World Rally Team remains on course for both a podium finish and a solid points haul after today's second leg of the Rallye Monte Carlo.  Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen were unchallenged for third in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car while team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen hold fifth in a similar car.

Behind Grönholm, Chris Atkinson (Subaru) climbed to fourth, the Australian impressing on his first asphalt event in the team's 2006 car. 

Toni Gardemeister (Mitsubishi) moved up to sixth, but Petter Solberg (Subaru) lost time this morning on tyres that were too hard and slipped to ninth, before recovering to seventh.  Manfred Stohl (Citroen) climbed to fifth but a broken front brake calliper on stage six left rear brakes only and he lost two minutes during the afternoon, sliding to 11th.  Xevi Pons (Mitsubishi) retired in the opening stage with a broken gearbox.

Tomorrow’s Route

The final leg takes competitors further north into the Haute-Loire region.  After leaving Valence at 06.00 drivers tackle two identical loops of three stages, split by a return to the city for late morning service.  The middle test of each group is the classic 25.93km St-Bonnet-le-Froid, a legendary Monte Carlo stage.  Drivers tackle 128.72km of competition before a free transit section to Monaco ahead of Sunday morning's super special stage around the harbour area of the Grand Prix circuit.

Leaderboard after Leg 2 1.  S Loeb/D Elena                      F               Citroen C4              1hr 57min 41.1sec 2.  D Sordo/M Marti                     E               Citroen C4              1hr 58min 06.3sec 3.  M Grönholm/T Rautiainen     FIN             Ford Focus RS   1hr 58min 56.8sec 4.  C Atkinson/G MacNeall               AUS             Subaru Impreza  2hr 00min 11.4sec 5.  M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen               FIN             Ford Focus RS   2hr 00min 28.6sec 6.  T Gardemeister/J Honkkanen  FIN             Mitsubishi Lancer       2hr 00min 35.3sec 7.  P Solberg/P Mills                   N               Subaru Impreza  2hr 00min 46.7sec 8.  J Kopecky/F Schovanek               CZ              Skoda Fabia             2hr 01min 26.6sec 9.  J-M Latvala/M Anttila               FIN             Ford Focus RS   2hr 01min 53.2sec 10 J-M Cuoq/D Marty                     F               Peugeot 307             2hr 02min 12.1sec

Stage Times

Stage 3: 1. Sordo 29min 43.4sec; 2. Loeb + 16.2; 3. Grönholm + 17.7; 4. Atkinson + 20.1; 5. Gardemeister + 26.7; 6. Stohl + 31.3; 9. Hirvonen + 58.1.

Overall: 1. Loeb 53min 29.5sec; 2. Sordo + 7.7; 3. Grönholm + 30.6; 4. Atkinson + 1:04.0; 5. Gardemeister + 1:16.6; 6. Stohl + 1:16.8; 7. Hirvonen + 1:33.6.

Stage 4: 1. Loeb 9min 39.3sec; 2. Sordo + 0.1; 3. Grönholm + 3.7; 4. P Solberg + 11.1; 5. Latvala + 12.3; 6. Hirvonen + 12.7.

Overall: 1. Loeb 1hr 03min 08.8sec; 2. Sordo + 7.8; 3. Grönholm + 34.3; 4. Atkinson + 1:20.3; 5. Stohl + 1:29.8; 6. Gardemeister + 1:31.9; 7. Hirvonen + 1:46.3.

Stage 5: 1. Sordo 8min 00.7sec; 2. Loeb + 1.2; 3. Grönholm + 3.1; 4. P Solberg + 5.2; 5. Hirvonen + 6.2; 6= Gardemeister, Stohl + 8.2.

Overall: 1. Loeb 1hr 11min 10.7sec; 2. Sordo + 6.6; 3. Grönholm + 36.2; 4. Atkinson + 1:34.1; 5. Stohl + 1:36.8; 6. Gardemeister + 1:38.9; 7. Hirvonen + 1:51.3.

Stage 6: 1. Loeb 28min 29.7sec; 2. Sordo + 17.1; 3. Grönholm + 24.4; 4. Hirvonen + 30.0; 5. Atkinson + 31.1; 6. P Solberg + 40.6.

Overall: 1. Loeb 1hr 39min 40.4sec; 2. Sordo + 23.7; 3. Grönholm + 1:00.6; 4. Atkinson + 2:05.2; 5. Hirvonen + 2:21.3; 6. Gardemeister + 2:33.2.

Stage 7: 1. Sordo 9min 43.2sec; 2. Loeb + 1.1; 3. Grönholm + 6.1; 4. Atkinson + 7.1; 5. P Solberg + 8.6; 6. Gardemeister + 11.2; 7. Hirvonen + 12.3.

Overall: 1. Loeb 1hr 49min 24.7sec; 2. Sordo + 22.6; 3. Grönholm + 1:05.6; 4. Atkinson + 2:11.2; 5. Hirvonen + 2:32.5; 6. Gardemeister + 2:43.3.

Stage 8: 1. Loeb 8min 16.4sec; 2. Sordo + 2.6; 3. Cuoq + 9.7; 4. Grönholm + 10.1; 5. Gardemeister + 10.9; 6. P Solberg + 14.4; 7. Hirvonen + 15.0.

Overall: 1. Loeb 1hr 57min 41.1sec; 2. Sordo + 25.2; 3. Grönholm + 1:15.7; 4. Atkinson + 2:30.3; 5. Hirvonen + 2:47.5; 6. Gardemeister + 2:54.2.