The third and final day of Rally Russia got underway this morning under threatening skies, and although Juho Hanninen holds a good lead for victory, the remaining IRC points-scoring positions remain to be fought for.

The 10-kilometre Perevoznoe stage was the first test this morning, and true to his word, Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg driver Freddy Loix set out to close the gap ahead of him in the general standings. The Ypres Rally winner completed this run in 6:44.7, a few seconds ahead of his designated target, Abarth Grande Punto driver Giandomenico Basso.

The Italian was followed by his teammate Anton Alen, while Evgeny Novikov (who is not participating as an IRC contender), claimed fourth place ahead of the rally leader, Juho Hanninen. The Peugeot-driving Finn, enjoying a clear advantage on his closest IRC rival, has slightly lessened the pace as the rally nears its conclusion. All three drivers were about a second and a half close to each oher.

Alexsandr Zheludov's Subaru Impreza and Nicolas Vouilloz's Peugeot 207 were each only fractions of a second behind in positions six and seven respectively.

The Mitsubishi and Subaru of Russian competitors Andrey Zhigunov and Alexander Gavrilov came next, with Frenchman Brice Tirabassi closing the top ten list 20.6 seconds away from the stage winner.

Juho Hanninen presently counts on an overall 59.6-second lead on second-placed Evgeny Novikov, but his advantage on nearest IRC contender Anton Alen stands at 1:51.1, a very comfortable margin. Fourth-placed Giandomenico Basso saw Freddy Loix edge a bit closer, with the time gap between them now at 21.3 seconds with three stages to go.