Sebastien Loeb appears to be making light work of the 50-second time penalty he received for starting stage 15 five minutes late due to a gearbox problem.
The seven-time world champion began stage 16 24.1s adrift of Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier in the overall standings after the penalty was subsequently applied.
But a sensational run through the second Duarte stage means the 37-year-old has narrowed Ogier’s advantage to 10.4s with one gravel stage remaining on day two.
Although Ogier might prefer to drop behind Loeb to avoid running first on Sunday’s final day, nothing should detract from Loeb’s efforts to recover lost ground in his Citroen DS3 WRC.
But while Loeb was rapid, Petter Solberg was quicker still by going 3.9s faster than the Frenchman in his privately-run DS3.
Mads Ostberg has moved ahead of M-Sport Stobart team-mate Henning Solberg into sixth overall. Solberg began the stage fearing the powersteering problem that returned on stage 15 would prevent him from completing the run.
Standings after SS16 :
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | 2h55m44.6s |
| 02 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +10.4s |
| 03 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1m25.2s |
| 04 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +2m43.5s |
| 05 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +6m42.0s |
| 06 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +7m50.2s |
| 07 | H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +7m57.9s |
| 08 | N. AL-ATTIYAH / G. BERNACCHINI | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +9m55.8s |
| 09 | M. PROKOP / J. TOMANEK | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +10m34.5s |
| 10 | J. HÄNNINEN / M. MARKKULA | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +11m14.5s |
| 11 | K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +33m12.7s |
| 12 | R. SALGADO / D. SALGADO | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X | +34m55.3s |
| 13 | O. TANAK / K. SIKK | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +39m29.7s |
| 14 | F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +44m39.7s |
| 15 | B. GUERRA / J. MARIN | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X | +45m18.1s |