Sebastien Loeb will take a cushion of nearly two minutes into the ADAC Rallye Deutschland Power Stage after cruising through the second running of Dhrontal.
The FIA World Rally champion reported a slight turbo issue on his Citroen DS3 WRC, so proceeded gently - particularly as conditions remained wet.
"It was okay. We had the rain in the stage this time, but we had soft tyres and it was very muddy so I took it very easy," said Loeb.
"We have a little problem with the turbo but the time is okay. Sometimes there is a problem with the response."
Ford World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg was fastest of all. Although the Norwegian is now unlikely to get above his current 12th position in the overall standings, he could have a shot at salvaging some bonus points from the Power Stage.
Jari-Matti Latvala now looks assured of second place, having added a few more seconds to his advantage over Mikko Hirvonen, who admitted he would be pleased to have this rally out of the way.
Mads Ostberg was second quickest to Solberg on the stage.
"It was quite tricky but it was actually better than I expected it to be and I had the correct information in the pace notes from the gravel crew," said the fourth-placed Norwegian. "It’s nice to be through it now."