The final loop of stages is under way at Rally Poland, with the repeat passage over the Milki trail and its large crests having now been completed.

Once again Henning Solberg has signed a stage win for Stobart Ford, the Norwegian completing this 27-kilometre challenge with a time of 13:56.0.

Sebastien Loeb came next in second position a full 6.3sec behind, evidently not pushing his works Citroen team car too hard. "I am driving without any risk," he said. "The car is going well, no problem."

Rally leader Mikko Hirvonen is competing at this point with the same mindset, concentrating solely on bringing his factory Ford Focus RS home and clinching victory. "We have a good rhythm, no problem," the Finn reported.

Fourth-fastest on this run at the wheel of his privateer Citroen Xsara, Petter Solberg continued his attempts to rejoin the overall top five: "I tried hard, that's the only thing I can say!"

Three Ford cars came next to take positions five to seven, with the official team's Jari-Matti Latvala sandwiched between the Stobart outfit cars of Matthew Wilson and Krzysztof Holowczyc.

"I am driving very, very steady," Latvala declared. "There's no battle any more."

Dani Sordo was eighth-quickest for the Citroen team ahead of Conrad Rautenbach's Citroen Junior Team machine. Much further away, Vytautas Svedas' Mitsubishi Lancer completed the top ten.

Unfortunately for Sebastien Ogier, his great Rally Poland run has come to an end: the now formerly overall fourth-placed Frenchman stopped his CJT C4 WRC on this stage with what has been reported as an engine failure.

Mikko Hirvonen's overall advantage has increased to 16.4 seconds on Jari-Matti Latvala. Third-placed Dani Sordo, not taking any risks at this point, stands a further 54.3 seconds away.

Nearly an additional minute further down the line, and with Sebastien Ogier now out of the picture, Henning Solberg moves into fourth position overall while Petter Solberg re-enters the top five by default.

As he neared the conclusion of a good run, Evgeny Novikov voluntarily dropped much time, losing two minutes to Sebastien Loeb who moved ahead of him in the overall rankings. "We have instructions to slow down and let Seb go ahead," the young Russian frankly admitted.

With Loeb now ninth in the standings, it remains to be seen if overall eighth-placed Conrad Rautenbach will lose his 13-minute lead on the next stage. If Loeb gains one more position, he will collect one drivers' championship point in addition to three manufacturer points.

The final proper gravel stage of the rally comes next with the Tros 2 route.