Bryan Bouffier climbed from seventh place to take the lead of the 2011 Rally Monte Carlo yesterday.

Unexpected heavy snow fell on the afternoon stages catching some competiros by surprise, including Juho Hanninen, who had extended his lead  to 51.5 seconds by midday service.

Overall standings after eight stages:

1. Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot) 2h14m38.8s

2. Francois Delecour (Peugeot) + 28.0s

3. Freddy Loix (Skoda) + 1m05.5s

4. Guy Wilks (Peugeot) + 1m20.5s

5. Stephane Sarrazin (Peugeot) + 1m41.1s

6. Juho Hanninen (Skoda) + 2m35.7s

7. Petter Solberg (Peugeot) + 3m49.1s

8. Nicolas Vouilloz (Skoda) + 5m31.0s

9. Jan Kopecky (Skoda) + 7m51.7s

10. Toni Gardemeister (Peugeot) + 7m52.7s