With Citroen's Dani Sordo putting on the pressure, the two Ford World Rally Team drivers have no option but to race hard in order to maintain their overall gaps.

On the fast-paced narrow roads of the 32-kilometre Gawliki 2 stage, Citroen's Sebastien Loeb took the stage victory with a running time clocked at 17:21.1, but with the Frenchman racing under SupeRally rules, all eyes are on the rally's leading Ford drivers.

Mikko Hirvonen was second-fastest, a full 5.9 seconds behind Loeb's great performance, and the Finn admitted that this run had been difficult: "That was good but it's not coming easy."

"I'm going as fast as I can," the Finn added. "It's definitely a fight all the way through."

Showing furious pace, Jari-Matti Latvala completed this run third-fastest with a result only 0.7sec slower than his rally-leading teammate, adding a few seconds to his overall lead on Sordo.

"I have the feeling that I've been driving like a mad man," Latvala grandly declared. "I can't get any faster, it was absolutely flat-out; a big push. Sordo is really making our lives hard."

Dani Sordo brought his works Citroen C4 into fourth position at the conclusion of this test, 5.6sec away from Latvala: "I tried to go flat-out, but it's really, really difficult."

Petter Solberg's fight to return within the overall top five received a small boost thanks to a very good drive across this long stage as he set the fifth-quickest time just 2.6sec ahead of his brother Henning's Stobart Ford.

"We put more cooling on the engine in service and some stiffer springs and I think that's made it better," explained the privateer Citroen Xsara driver. "I can feel where I'm gaining."

Henning Solberg's sixth-best run allowed his brother to move in closer, but it was nonetheless very good indeed in regards to his attempts to overtake Sebastien Ogier's position on the leaderboard.

Ogier's seventh position had the Citroen Junior Team driver recognising that he could have done better. "We are not on the good rhythm this afternoon but we still have one more stage to go," he pointed out. "We'll try to do a good job there."

CJT driver Evgeny Noviko and Mads Ostberg's Adapta Team Subaru rounded out the top ten for this stage.

Mikko Hirvonen's overall advantage stands at 10.7sec on Jari-Matti Latvala, who in turn increased the buffer between himself and third-placed Dani Sordo to 22sec. In fourth place, Sebastien Ogier's lead has dissipated to a mere 0.3sec on Henning Solberg. Petter Solberg is now 3.9sec away from a top five spot.

The day's final stage appears next on the menu: the 30 kilometres of Wydminy 2.