Citroen's Loeb is an asphalt specialist

The Frenchman, aiming for his fourth straight world crown, won the second and final legs to have an 11.3-second advantage over home hope Dani Sordo.

Finland's Marcus Gronholm, chasing a third drivers' title before retiring, ended the day in third place.

Gronholm led Loeb by 10 points going into the Catalunya event, with four more rallies to come this year.

Loeb took the lead with a blistering run in today's final stage.

He completed the 26.48 km run in 16 mins 16.7 secs - 14.9secs ahead of Citroen team-mate Sordo to overtake him for the overall lead.

Ford's Gronholm struggled to keep pace with the duo on the wide, sweeping asphalt roads of the Tarragona region near Salou.

Loeb said: "I tried really, really hard on the final stage. I had a good rhythm, and I knew we had the right set-up to I tried to make the most of it."

Gronholm would only say afterwards that he "hates tarmac rallies", while team-mate Hirvonen admitted: "Wrong set-up, wrong tyres, wrong everything."

Rally of Catalunya standings after Friday's six stages:
1. Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen C4 1hr 22min 16.5sec
2. Dani Sordo (Spa) Citroen C4 at 11.3
3. Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Ford Focus 50.6
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) Ford Focus 53.2
5. Francois Duval (Bel) Citroen C4 1:25.8
6. Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru Impreza 1:35.4
7. Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin) Ford Focus 2:09.2
8. Chris Atkinson (Aus) Subaru Impreza 2:20.2
9. Xevi Pons (Spa) Subaru Impreza 3:18.3
10. Henning Solberg (Nor) Ford Focus 5:43.3