Saturday will be a day full of fights Sebastien Loeb

The Frenchman leads Peugeot rival Marcus Gronholm, who also won two stages, by 6.1 seconds.

Loeb's Spanish team-mate Carlos Sainz, who also won a stage, ended the day third, 14 seconds behind the leader.

Finns Toni Gardemeister, Mikko Hirvonen and Harri Rovanpera currently occupy the next three positions.

Loeb's main rival, Subaru's former champion Petter Solberg, is now more than three minutes behind.

Loeb won the third and the final stage after a slow start.

"This morning wasn't fantastic. I don't know if it was coming from our settings, my driving or the very dirty road conditions," said Loeb.

"Our tyre choice was good and I didn't suffer too much from the heat. Of course I struggled a bit opening the road. The second loop was better for us.

"Saturday will be a day full of fights."

The cars of Solberg, his team-mates Chris Atkinson and Stephane Sarrazin, and that of Mitsubishi's Gigi Galli were found to be under the minimum 1,230 kg without the driver and co-driver.

The race authorities allowed them to continue after weighing the cars again.

Subaru were fined �39,790 and Mitsubishi �6,633.