Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo repeated their dominating form on Friday’s second test, pulling 17.5sec clear of the chasing pack by the end of the 23km Grafschaft Veldenz.
Loeb said the roads were tricky and dusty, but reported no problems after setting the fastest time, 1.3sec quicker than his team-mate.
Also in a C4 WRC, Citroen privateer Petter Solberg was third fastest through SS2, but remained almost three minutes behind in the overall standings after his earlier tyre problem. “It happened on a long left-hander when the tyre just went off the rim,” he said. “It was very unfortunate. Now I’m pushing harder - a little too hard perhaps.”
Ford team-leader Mikko Hirvonen was fourth fastest through SS2, to hold third place overall.
Stobart team driver Henning Solberg retired 14.5km from the start line. The Norwegian’s Fiesta S2000 suffered a broken gearbox.