Sebastien Loeb’s Acropolis Rally lead is down to 10.2 seconds as Petter Solberg put on a charge in very wet conditions on Saturday afternoon.
Jari-Matti Latvala, who was in 2nd place, got to 2.2 seconds behind Loeb until a puncture on the first stage of day 2 dropped him to 4th.
Mikko Hirvonen is now nearly two minutes behind in third, with Latvala losing more time as damage from an incident in SS14 left him with only three working brakes.
Mads Ostberg has now moved back into fifth ahead of Martin Prokop’s Czech Ford.
Nasser Al-Attiyah lost seventh place when a driveshaft failure halted his Citroen. Both Volkswagen Skodas hit trouble too, with Andreas Mikkelsen suffering from overheating issues, and Sebastian Ogier from power steering problems.
Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rahji moved into the top 10.
Leading positions after SS17: 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3h56m13.0s 2. Petter Solberg Ford + 10.2s 3. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 1m51.9s 4. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 4m44.6s 5. Mads Ostberg Adapta Ford + 7m39.7s 6. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 8m08.6s 7. Thierry Neuville Citroen Junior + 10m39.4s 8. Sebastien Ogier VW Skoda + 12m17.9s 9. Yazeed Al Rahji Yazeed Ford + 18m52.3s 10. Andreas Mikkelsen VW Skoda + 22m08.6s