Championship leader Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) took no risks and set two fastest times to end the day 54.7sec clear of Francois Duval (Ford). Team-mate Carlos Sainz could not hold off Duval's charge after spinning on the final test and lies 5.7sec behind the Belgian in third. It was a good day for Cedric Robert and Freddy Loix (both Peugeot). Robert posted his first fastest time on a world rally to climb from ninth to fifth while Loix won two stages to move up from 13th to sixth, finally getting the better of Toni Gardemeister (Skoda) after a daylong battle. All today's major retirements were the result of accidents. Roman Kresta (Skoda) and Gilles Panizzi (Mitsubishi) crashed on the opening stage and Petter Solberg rolled heavily on the fourth. Panizzi and Solberg's co-driver, Phil Mills, were both taken to hospital for checks but were quickly released with just bruising.
Today’s Route
The final leg is the shortest of the three and is based entirely on closed public roads in the Saarland region. Drivers leave Bostalsee at 06.32 and tackle two identical loops of three stages before a repeat of the super special stage through the streets of St Wendel to end the action. The seven stages cover 98.38km and drivers then head to Trier for the formal finish ceremony at 15.30.
Leaderboard after Leg 2 1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen Xsara 3hr 04min 20.3sec 2. F Duval/S Prévot B Ford Focus RS 3hr 05min 15.0sec 3. C Sainz/M Marti E Citroen Xsara 3hr 05min 20.7sec 4. M Märtin/M Park EE Ford Focus RS 3hr 06min 44.4sec 5. C Robert/G Bedon F Peugeot 307 3hr 07min 53.9sec 6. F Loix/S Smeets B Peugeot 307 3hr 08min 06.5sec 7. T Gardemeister/P Lukander FIN Skoda Fabia 3hr 08min 31.2sec 8. S Sarrazin/P Pivato F Subaru Impreza 3hr 09min 27.6sec 9. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Subaru Impreza 3hr 09min 39.8sec 10 A Bengue/C Escudero F Peugeot 206 3hr 13min 58.1sec
