At 15 kilometres, the Tros stage is a shorter trek than the previous run but it contains quite a variety of conditions to race through as the WRC drivers take on crests, woodland, tight curves and different gravel surfaces.

It seems that such conditions are favourable to the Ford camp, with no less than than four Focus RS WRCs taking the top spots on this stage with very close times between them.

In what has become somewhat of an on-and-off tradition, Henning Solberg again displays his best performances on Sundays: the Stobart Ford driver took the stage win, completing his run with a time clocked at 7:53.2.

The official Ford team's Jari-Matti Latvala was very close behind in second place, only one tenth of a second away from Solberg. "I drove consistently, just trying to control my speed to Mikko's splits," he reported. "Now we try to keep these (overall) positions."

Mikko Hirvonen took third place, also 0.1sec away and easing off a bit as the rally's conclusion nears and Citroen's Dani Sordo falls back.

"We don't need to take too many risks now," the Finn admitted. "But we're still pushing and I cracked the windscreen landing after a big jump."

Stobart Ford's guest driver Krzysztof Holowczyc set the fourth-best run in a tie with the Citroen Junior Team's Sebastien Ogier – with both drivers also a single tenth of a second behind the driver ahead.

Evgeny Novikov was sixth-fastest at the controls of his Citroen Junior Team C4 and beat seventh-fastest Petter Solberg, who is still dealing with oil spray issues: "We had more oil on the screen this time too, but not so much."

Solberg is not giving up on his ambitions to re-enter the overall top five, even if his Citroen Xsara might have reached its current limits. "There's still a long stage to go later so we'll see what we can do," he considered. "Anything can happen."

Dani Sordo is no longer thinking of pushing hard in an attempt to gain a position in these slippery conditions. "From now on I must be careful and just get to the finish," he said, aware that his Citroen team needs the points. "The plan is just to finish now."

Teammate Sebastien Loeb completed this stage as the ninth-best contender, ahead of Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson. "I went straight at a junction," Loeb explained.

Mikko Hirvonen's hold on the Rally Poland lead stands at 9.4 seconds on Jari-Matti Latvala, a solid 1:02.2 on Dani Sordo who has switched into safekeeping mode.

Nearly a minute further away, overall fourth-placed Sebastien Ogier is enjoying a 16.9-second advantage on Henning Solberg. Petter Solberg, 15.1 seconds behind his brother, is not giving up on his intentions to gain another position before the rally concludes.

The WRC competitors now return to the Mikolajki service park before taking on this morning's stages once more. The Milki 2 run begins at 11:49 local time.