Intro:

Loeb started the second day with a four second lead over Hirvonen.

Script:

Loeb started the second day with a four second lead over Hirvonen.
The Frenchman finished second on Saturday's opening stage behind Petter Solberg but ahead of Hirvonen to increase his overall lead to 6.7 seconds.

On the second stage of the day, he was fourth and Hirvonen seventh as Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala claimed a stage win.
Loeb held an 8.5 second advantage after the stage but that was slashed to 1.7 seconds when Hirvonen finished second behind Solberg on the 11th stage and Loeb finished back in fifth.

In winning the 12th stage, Loeb rebuilt his lead to 4.8 seconds, and after winning the 13th stage from Hirvonen he was 5.4 seconds ahead.

Hirvonen then won the 15th stage to keep pressure on Loeb.
The Citroen teammates seem the only drivers still in contention to win the rally with seven stages remaining on the final day.

Ford driver Petter Solberg is third, a minute and 35 seconds behind the leader.
iF Loeb does hang on, it will be only his third win in New Zealand - among his 71 wins on the World Rally Championship - and his first since 2008.