Loeb is chasing a third victory in Sardinia

Sebastien Loeb heads into the final day of the Rally of Sardinia with a lead of 29.4 seconds.

But the Frenchman has his work cut out to win after Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala and Hirvonen took first and second on all of Saturday's six stages.

The Finns, who benefited from not being first out on the gravel roads, knocked Loeb's Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo of Spain down to fifth from second.

But reigning world champion Loeb insisted: "There are no big problems."

He said: "A 30-second headstart is not so bad, it's what I wanted to have - although it's probably the minimum.

"We tried hard and did lose some time in the gravel, but the car is feeling good so we'll have to see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully the stages won't be too loose."

Latvala, with exactly the same time as his compatriot after 266km of driving, moved up to third having been seventh, with Italy's Gigi Galli fourth.

Norway's Petter Solberg looks to be out of the running after tyre problems and a puncture slowed him down.

"We have an issue with the new hard tyres we're running and the way we get temperature into them so they work correctly," Subaru team principal David Richards said.

Rally of Sardinia standings:
1. S Loeb (Fra/Citroen) 2hr 16min 01.7sec
2. Mikko Hirvonen (Fin/Ford) @ 29.4
3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin/Ford) 29.4
4. Gigi Galli (Ita/Ford) 1:17.7
5. Dani Sordo (Spa/Citroen) 1:31.3
6. Chris Atkinson (Aus/Subaru) 2:42.1
7. Henning Solberg (Nor/Ford) 4:29.0
8. Urmo Aava (Est/Citroen) 4:34.5
9. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Swe/Suzuki)
10. Petter Solberg (Nor/Subaru) 7:29.2