Sebastien Ogier will take a lead of 21.1s into Saturday’s final stage.
Although the Frenchman was 2.0s slower than Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb through the Amboy-Santa Monica test, he was 5.7s faster than Petter Solberg, who is second overall.
Jari-Matti Latvala started the stage out of order following frantic attempts to repair a broken compression strut. However, he was instructed by his team to stop in the stage to prevent any further damage to his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Latvala’s team-mate Mikko Hirvonen occupies the final podium spot but is now just 13.1s clear of Loeb.
Standings after SS14:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | 3h06m59.9s |
| 02 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +21.1s |
| 03 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +41.2s |
| 04 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +54.3s |
| 05 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4m36.0s |
| 06 | F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +5m30.1s |
| 07 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +6m33.3s |
| 08 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +7m19.2s |
| 09 | H. PADDON / J. KENNARD | Subaru Impreza | +20m36.6s |
| 10 | P. FLODIN / M. ANDERSSON | Subaru Impreza | +28m33.6s |
| 11 | M. KOSCIUSZKO / M. SZCZEPANIAK | Mitsubishi Evo X | +28m55.8s |
| 12 | D. TAGIROV / A. ZAVERSHINSKAYA | Subaru Impreza | +31m02.7s |
| 13 | K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +32m28.3s |
| 14 | A. KREMER / K. WICHA | Mitsubishi Evo X | +35m01.0s |
| 15 | N. FUCHS / F. MUSSANO | Mitsubishi Evo X | +35m19.5s |