Sebastien Ogier kept his winning momentum on the rain-soaked Bischwiller stage, going fastest again to extend his rally lead over Dani Sordo into double figures.
Ogier threaded his Polo R through the narrow test in 4m 16.3s, nine-tenths faster than the Ford Fiesta RS of Thierry Neuville, who was his closest challenger on the stage.
“There’s no secret to the speed - I was just pushing,” a determined Ogier explained at the finish control. “It’s quite hot in the car! Up to now today has been perfect.”
Sordo completed in the fourth quickest time, 4.4sec slower than Ogier. “It was okay but very slippery and tricky – and I think the next one will be the same.”
More bad news for the Spaniard is that an increasingly confident Jari-Matti Latvala is now just 3.8sec behind.
“That was a good stage. The first one today was horrible, and I backed off after Loeb went off, but I liked this one, even though it’s damp and there is lots of water about. Somehow the grip is more consistent. Okay, Ogier is flying now but we have a good little fight with Dani,” said the Finn.