Sebastien Loeb of France and co-driver Daniel Elena of the Citroen Total WRT team navigate a water hazard in their Citroen C4 car during the second stage of the Rally of Great Britain at Sweet Lamb, Wales on October 23. Loeb seized control of the Rally of Great Britain and the world title race with a dominant performance on day two of the season-ending race here on Saturday.

Sebastien Loeb seized control of the Rally of Great Britain and the world title race with a dominant performance on day two of the season-ending race here on Saturday.

The defending champion finished the day with a 30.2sec lead over title rival Mikko Hirvonen of Finland, who led him by a single point going into the weekend, with four special stages to come on Sunday.

Protecting a 5.3sec lead from day one, Loeb’s advantage was trimmed to 2.9sec when Hirvonen won the 35.72km first special stage of the day, but thereafter the Frenchman turned on the style to leave his rival trailing.

Hirvonen was 10.2sec behind Loeb in stage eight and 11.9sec off the Citroen man’s pace in stage nine, allowing the five-time champion to open up a 25sec advantage.

The Ford Focus driver hit back to take stage 10, which was a repeat of the day’s first stage through the Vale of Neath forest, but Loeb reasserted himself in stages 11 and 12 to establish a handsome 30.2sec lead going into the final day.

Loeb’s Spanish team-mate Dani Sordo followed the Frenchman’s lead to climb above Petter Solberg into third place and had opened up a 24sec lead over the Norwegian by the end of the final stage.