Loeb is targeting his 10th win of the season in Spain
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Citroen's Sebastien Loeb took another step towards his 10th race victory of the season with a dominant display in the Rally Catalunya on Saturday.
Loeb won three of the day's five stages to lie almost a minute ahead of team-mate Francois Duval, with Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm in third.
"All in all everything went great," said Frenchman Loeb.
Ford's Toni Gardemeister was in fourth when a brake failure on stage 10 saw him crash and fall out of the top 10.
"The brake pedal went to the floor before a fourth-gear corner and the car went straight on and became stuck on top of a bank, with all four wheels off the ground," said the Finn.
"Beyond the bank was a 20m vertical drop and I was sitting pressing the brake pedal and waiting to go straight over the top. We were lucky.
"The spectators did a great job to lift us back onto the road again."
Peugeot rookie Nicolas Bernardi is seventh while Ford's Anthony Warmbold completes the top eight.
Loeb added: "I tried to handle the day as best as possible because a few of
the specials were quite delicate.
"On the ones that weren't I was able to put the pedal down a bit more, just to enjoy myself a bit."
Results of the Catalunya Rally after Saturday's second leg:
1. Sebastien Loeb, France, Citroen Xsara, 2 hours, 49 minutes, 17. 5 seconds
2. Francois Duval, Belgium, Citroen Xsara, 57.8 seconds behind
3. Marcus Gronholm, Finland, Peugeot 307, 2:11.8 behind
4. Mikko Hirvonen, Finland, Ford Focus, 2:41.3 behind
5. Xavier Pons, Spain, Citroen Xsara, 2:53.6 behind
6. Roman Kresta, Czech Republic, Ford Focus, 3:17.5 behind
7. Nicolas Bernardi, France, Peugeot 307, 3:28.4 behind
8. Anthony Warmbold, Germany, Ford Focus, 4:36.0 behind
9. Jan Kopsecky, Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia, 4:43.0 behind
10. Chris Atkinson, Australia, Subaru Impreza, 5:11.4 behind
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