Gronholm has dominated the race over the first two days

The Finn led Citroen's championship leader Sebastien Loeb by 12 seconds going into Saturday's action.

But Frenchman Loeb's chances of victory disappeared after he suffered a puncture on the third stage of the day.

Gronholm's Ford Focus team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is third, one minute 42.5 seconds off the pace.

Henning Solberg, in a Peugeot 307 is 3:37.0 behind while former world champion Petter Solberg and Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo were both forced out.

Loeb's puncture, after he hit a rock, cost him 30 seconds as the damage was repaired.

"I thought I was on the right path but there was this rock and I didn't know anything about it," said Loeb, who leads Gronholm by 33 points in the race for the world title.

"The rock really tore the tyre and the car was virtually on two wheels."

Gronholm said he would not take any risks on Sunday's last day as he tries to cut Loeb's overall lead.

"There's no need to panic," said the Finn. "We were going fast in the morning, then Sebastien hit the rock and we were pushing 100% since then.

"I'm driving well. I'll try to stay concentrated and not make any mistakes."