Source: Rally WRC After yesterday's tough opening in ice, snow and darkness, today was much kinder to competitors. Higher temperatures removed any threat of ice and snow in the mountains south-west of the rally base in Valence and daylight offered easier conditions. Drivers tackled two identical loops of three speed tests, covering 116.96km in the region where the rally originally built its legendary reputation. Overnight leader Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) won five of the six stages to extend his lead to 56.6sec over team-mate Dani Sordo, who fell back this afternoon after a broken front differential left him with two-wheel drive only. Behind Hirvonen, Chris Atkinson (Subaru) and François Duval (Ford) battled hard for fourth, the Australian eventually pulling out a 14sec advantage. Petter Solberg (Subaru) rounded off the top six, despite an engine problem on the opening stage and stalling at the start of the next test. Gigi Galli (Ford) retained seventh despite losing a minute with a power steering problem on the final stage. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) incurred a 40sec time penalty leaving service this morning after a gearshift problem. He drove the morning loop using the manual gearshift system but set good times this afternoon to climb to 12th. Team-mate Toni Gardemeister (Suzuki) lost time all day after a mysterious problem left the Finn's car without full power. Leaderboard after Day 2: 1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4 1hr 36min 44.9sec2. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4 1hr 37min 41.5sec3. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 38min 07.7sec4. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 1hr 39min 13.5sec5. F Duval/E Chevailler B Ford Focus RS 1hr 39min 27.5sec6. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza 1hr 39min 54.5sec7. G Galli/G Bernacchini I Ford Focus RS 1hr 42min 06.0sec8. J-M Cuoq/P Janvier F Peugeot 307 1hr 42min 12.8sec9. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 43min 40.7sec 10 H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS 1hr 43min 43.6sec
Sébastien Loeb extended his lead