And Gronholm's Peugeot team-mate Richard Burns is creeping up on third-placed Carlos Sainz as he works to make amends for the mistake that cost him two minutes on Friday.

Burns is 29.6 seconds behind the Spaniard's Ford, but the Englishman is losing time to Martin's Ford and the Subaru of Solberg.

Meanwhile, former world champion Colin McRae endured a nightmare final stage of the day, losing 20 seconds on the short super special in Cardiff after a spin.

That dropped him to seventh overall, allowing Sebastian Loeb to leapfrog him in the placings.

But at least the Scot is still in the rally.

Gronholm bowed out after rolling his Peugeot on the 10th stage, the 10.7-mile Halfway run, at an infamous corner called Deer's Leap.

The Finn's error ended his chances of taking a record-equalling sixth victory in a season.

He said: "It was really my mistake. I was not concentrating. We had a problem in the car with the hydraulic system and I was not using the gear-shift on the steering wheel.

"It was Tarmac in that corner. There was a lot of mud and I was a little bit too fast.

"It was stupid to make a mistake - there was no need to hurry."

Peugeot sports boss Corrado Provera said: "It's the first time that it has happened to him this year and they deserved to win from the stage times they have been setting.

"We know that Marcus is not injured, and I can imagine how sad they must feel."

Until his crash, Gronholm had dominated the rally just as he has this season, setting fastest times on all but one of the forest stages.

But his error means that either Martin or Solberg is poised to score the first win of their young careers.