The top of the Rally de España leaderboard has turned on its head during the second day of competition and Sébastien Loeb has powered into the lead in the Citroën DS3 WRC.

Jari-Matti Latvala has moved into second for Ford, with Mikko Hirvonen third. Mads Østberg, who set a fine pace yesterday and topped the standings overnight, has slipped to fifth.

Today’s route took in two identical loops of three stages covering 161.30 competitive kilometres, not only the longest day of the event but including the longest stage of the rally (45.97 kilometres). While admitting last night he was unlikely to be able to hold off Loeb on Tarmac today, Østberg maintained his lead through the first stage but dropped to third in the long El Priorat test when hard tyres proved the wrong choice for wetter conditions than anticipated. He went off the road once, brushed a barrier and lost over a minute. Things got no better during the rest of the day as the Norwegian struggled with the handling of the car and ultimately dropped to fifth.

Having established himself at the head of the leaderboard, Loeb then extended his advantage over Latvala this afternoon, the Finn forced to concede that the Frenchman remains untouchable on asphalt. The pair is now split by 27 seconds going into Sunday’s final day.

Mikko Hirvonen has moved into third after a trouble-free day and Ott Tänak was able to overhaul Østberg in the final stage with a fastest time. Dani Sordo - continuing under Rally 2 regulations - has set two fastest times this afternoon after electrical problems this morning. Even so, the Spaniard remains well outside the top 10 after his Friday crash.

WRC Rally de España – Provisional Results After Day 2

1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroën DS3 WRC) 3hr 16min 14.1sec
2. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +27.0
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Citroën DS3 WRC) +1:14.1
4. Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:28.8
5. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:31.4
6. Hans Weijs/Bjorn Degant (Citroën DS3 WRC) +9:02.9
7. Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Ford Fiesta S2000) +12:26.2
8. Evgeny Novikov/Ilka Minor (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +13:25.1
9. Jarkko Nikara/Jarkko Kalliolepo (MINI Cooper Works WRC) +13:39.1
10. Per-Gunnar Andersson/E Axelsson (Proton Satria Neo S2000) +15:45.5