The final leg of Wales Rally GB began under terrible weather conditions this morning. A storm has been passing over the area for hours, pouring heavy rain and sweeping the stages with strong winds. The tree-lined Brechfa stage's surface is mostly soil, making for very slippery conditions indeed when soaked. The fast and flowing route eventually becomes a twisty and technical affair over the last few kilometres, with ditches added to the equation.

The first challenge of the day resulted in a tie for the win when Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala and Ford's Mikko Hirvonen both recorded identical times of 16'14"2. Exactly two seconds later, Marcus Grömholm's works Ford Focus RS appeared in third position.

Taking nearly a dozen seconds longer than the stage leaders to complete his run, Dani Sordo took fourth place for the Citroën Sport team. He was followed by teammate Sébastien Loeb, who is now only three runs away from clinching a fourth world rally title today.

Petter Solberg claimed the sixth spot for the Subaru organisation, while Matthew Wilson accomplished a good run for the Stobart Ford team by driving into seventh position. Mads Ostberg's Adapta Subaru came next with the eighth-best time.

Over the half-minute mark, Manfred Stohl's OMV Kronos Citroën Xsara and Xevi Pons' works Subaru Impreza completed the top ten.

Unfortunately for Chris Atkinson, the windshield of his Subaru team Impreza was fogging up again and greatly hampered his progression through this route. The Australian arrived in 11th place, 44.8 seconds slower than the stage leader, and dropped down two notches in the general standings.

Mikko Hirvonen is still strongly in the lead of Wales Rally GB, 37.5 seconds ahead of Marcus Grönholm. Sébastien Loeb is not pushing at all as he occupies the third overall position 52.4 seconds down from his championship rival. Over a minute further away, Petter Solberg and Dani Sordo rounded off the top five list.

The upcoming Trawscoed run will already be completing this morning's loop.