Sebastien Loeb will take a 50 second lead into the final stage of Rallye Deutschland after clearing the penultimate test in another stage winning time.
With only the Circus Maximus Super Special still to run, just 4.3 kilometres stand between the French driver and his eighth victory on this rally.
The rest of the positions in the top five look settled, while a good defensive drive from Brit Mathew Wilson looks to have ended Raikkonen chances of claiming back sixth. Wilson will take a 5.6sec advantage into the final test.
Overall standing after SS18 :
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroën C4 WRC | 3h56m19.1s |
| 02 | Dani SORDO | Citroën C4 WRC | +50.6s |
| 03 | Sébastien OGIER | Citroën C4 WRC | +2m15.7s |
| 04 | Jari-Matti LATVALA | Ford Focus WRC | +2m35.8s |
| 05 | Petter SOLBERG | Citroën C4 WRC | +5m22.8s |
| 06 | Matthew WILSON | Ford Focus WRC | +8m50.2s |
| 07 | Kimi RAIKKONEN | Citroën C4 WRC | +8m55.8s |
| 08 | Khalid AL QASSIMI | Ford Focus WRC | +17m32.8s |
| 09 | Mark VAN ELDIK | Subaru Impreza WRC | +17m50.7s |
| 10 | Patrik SANDELL | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +17m53.2s |
| 11 | Martin PROKOP | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +17m56.5s |
| 12 | Bernhard TEN BRINKE | Ford Focus WRC | +18m58.5s |
| 13 | Per Gunnar ANDERSSON | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +21m03.9s |
| 14 | Eyvind BRYNILDSEN | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +21m04.9s |
| 15 | Xavier PONS | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +23m45.5s |