Sebastien Loeb will take a 24-second lead into Saturday’s final day of the Jordan Rally after ending Friday’s competition with a fastest time though the repeated Jordan River stage.
Earlier in the day Loeb said he was hoping for a 30-second cushion over Ford rival Jari-Matti Latvala, to counteract the disadvantage of running first on the road through Saturday’s remaining eight stages.
In the event, he accepted a margin of 27.7sec over the Finn who holds third place after Sebastien Ogier unexpectedly moved ahead into second.
The last stage position switch - which Ogier claimed was intentional - is likely to benefit Latvala on Saturday.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroën C4 WRC | 2h41m06.7s |
| 02 | Sébastien OGIER | Citroën C4 WRC | +24.6s |
| 03 | Jari-Matti LATVALA | Ford Focus WRC | +27.7s |
| 04 | Petter SOLBERG | Citroën C4 WRC | +43.2s |
| 05 | Dani SORDO | Citroën C4 WRC | +48.8s |
| 06 | Matthew WILSON | Ford Focus WRC | +5m05.7s |
| 07 | Federico VILLAGRA | Ford Focus WRC | +6m51.0s |
| 08 | Kimi RAIKKÖNEN | Citroën C4 WRC | +8m09.0s |
| 09 | Henning SOLBERG | Ford Focus WRC | +10m04.0s |
| 10 | Xavier PONS | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +10m17.7s |
| 11 | Bernardo SOUSA | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +10m56.4s |
| 12 | Patrik FLODIN | Subaru Impreza Gr N | +11m21.5s |
| 13 | Armindo ARAÚJO | Mitsubishi Lancer Gr N | +11m45.4s |
| 14 | Yazeed AL RAJHI | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +15m44.5s |
| 15 | Michal KOSCIUSZKO | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +19m21.4s |