SS5: Gronholm and Loeb On Point

The fifth stage of today's leg was a tie between BP-Ford's Marcus Gronholm and Citroen's Sebastien Loeb as they both finished first in the second run through Resolfen. Both championship contenders finished the 25.08km stage with a time of 13 minutes 20.9 seconds.

Mikko Hirvonen finished third fastest, 2.4 seconds slower than the top two. The Finn is still leading the rally by 23.2 seconds over team-mate Gronholm.

Fourth on the stage was Jari-Matti Latvala, 4.0 seconds behind his compatriot. He is still fourth overall 20.2 seconds behind Loeb's third place.

Petter Solberg was fifth quickest, 9.0 seconds behind Latvala. The Norwegian goes into the final stage of the day fifth overall, 29.9 seconds behind Latvala's fourth.

Sixth best time went to Dani Sordo, who is still sixth overall, 9.2 slower than the Subaru driver.

Mad Ostberg made his first appearance inside the top eight stage times with a seventh best time, 8.4 seconds slower than the Spaniard.

Manfred Stohl rounded out the top eight, 8.4 seconds behind the young Norwegian. The Austrian is seventh overall, only 0.8 seconds in front of Matthew Wilson in eighth.