After another day of hard-fought competition over twisty mountain roads on the island of Corsica, reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb has maintained his advantage and looks set to seal a second consecutive victory on his home event. The Citroën Xsara driver won two of the day’s four stages, extending his overnight advantage to 39.7 seconds with just another four stages to run on Sunday.

Ford’s Marcus Grönholm retains second position but the Finn lost time over the morning’s stages, unhappy with the car’s handling and unsure of the reason. Behind him, however, is where the battle has raged throughout the leg. Daniel Sordo (Citroën Xsara), Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) and Alexandre Bengue (Peugeot 307) have all been fighting for the final podium place and, while Hirvonen has dominated the trio for most of the leg, the Finn ceded third position to Sordo in the final stage of the day, after the Spaniard won the 31 kilometre section by nearly five seconds. The two are however split by just 5.7 seconds going into the last leg.

Leading retirements of the day include Britain’s Matthew Wilson and Finn, Jari-Matti Latvala. The Ford Focus team-mates both went off the road but could re-start tomorrow under permitted regulations.

Rallye de France - Tour de Corse – Results after Leg 2
 

1	Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena	Citroën Xsara WRC	2 hr 35 min 31.4sec
2	Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2 hr 36 min 11.1sec
3	Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti	Citroën Xsara WRC	2 hr 37 min 09.8sec
4	Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2 hr 37 min 15.5sec
5	Alexandre Bengue/Caroline Escudero	Peugeot 307 WRC	2 hr 37 min 59.8sec
6	Xavier Pons/ Carlos Del Barrio	Citroën Xsara WRC	2 hr 38 min 07.8sec

 
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