Citroen star Loeb excels on asphalt surfaces

Loeb, chasing a fourth straight WRC crown, had two wins of his own to stay top of the standings, 12.9 seconds clear of Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo.

Sordo continued to impress in his home event with wins in the other two legs.

Gronholm, who has a 10-point lead over Loeb with five rounds to go, remains in third, 43.6 secs behind the champion.

The Finn's Ford team mate Nikko Hirvonen is in fourth a further 28.9 secs behind, with Citroen's Francois Duval in fifth and former world champion Petter Solberg sixth for Subaru.

"If I finish third it will still be a good result - we'll be aiming to do better in Corsica next week Marcus Gronholm

Although it was Gronholm who took most of the stage honours, Loeb's lead was never in danger, and he remains on course for a hat-trick of wins in the asphalt rally.

Subaru pair Chris Atkinson and Xevi Pons ended the day strongly by taking second and third place behind Gronholm in the 14th stage, but are well down the overall standings in eight and ninth.

Loeb said: "It wasn't an easy day because the Fords were fast which forced us to drive fast to fend them off.

"But it worked out well, because we (Loeb and Sordi) are both confident behind the wheel."

Standings after Saturday's eight stages:
1 Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen 2hrs 30mins 45.500secs
2 Dani Sordo (Spa) Citroen 2:30:58.400
3 Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Ford 2:31:29.100
4 Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) Ford 2:31:58.000
5 Francois Duval (Bel) Skoda 2:32:43.600
6 Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru 2:33:17.300
7 Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin) Ford 2:33:44.100
8 Chris Atkinson (Aus) Subaru 2:34:12.700
9 Xavier Pons (Spa) Mitsubishi 2:35:04.500
10 Henning Solberg (Nor) Ford 2:38:49.500