Ogier leads over three-way fight for second

On the morning opener, Ogier's VW team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen took second fastest time, overturning the third Polo of Jari-Matti Latvala and promoting him to third overall behind Hyundai's Thierry Neuville.

He then tied Ogier for fastest time on SS6, reducing Neuville's hold on second to just 5.4s.

Latvala's discontent continued, with last year's winner is out of sorts on the French island. He dropped 14.8s behind Mikkelsen on the last stage of the morning, but still realistically in the fight for the second place.

Ogier's equal fastest time helped to assure his lead, the gap now 53.6s ahead of Neuville. The Frenchman got stuck at a hairpin on SS5 but recovered to go third fastest on the stage. That was the three-time champion's only real drama.

Although it looked like Mikkelsen had won the first stage, Kris Meeke sneaked in later on in the stage to take a time 17s faster than Mikkelsen, promoting the Northern Irishman to eighth overall.

Yesterday he had been second overall and Ogier's closest challenger before a puncture cost him over two minutes. However, in the second stage of the loop this morning, he went off 400 metres into the stage and hit a tree, signing himself out of the rally.

Meeke's team-mate Craig Breen continued his impressive performance, on his sixth WRC event in a top-class car.

He established fifth ahead of Hyundai's Hayden Paddon, while M-Sport's Eric Camilli kept up his consistent performance to sit seventh.

Hyundai's Dani Sordo was promoted to eighth after Meeke's off. The Spaniard had a puncture on Friday costing him over two minutes.