Citroen team-mates Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen are in a tight battle midway through the second leg of Brother Rally New Zealand.
Loeb got the jump this morning as he stretched his lead to eight second after the opening pair of stages. Hirvonen put his head down on the following stage and completed the morning loop just 1.7-seconds behind Loeb.
The battling Citroens are still nearly90 seconds clear of Petter Solberg who moved his factory Ford into third place ahead of Evgeny Novikov. The Russian is now under pressure from the M-Sport Ford team-mate Ott Tanak.
Thierry Neuville (Qatar Citroen) and Dani Sordo (Prodrive Mini) have had a steady morning, while Jari-Matti Latvala has been flying in eighth.
Rally New Zealand : Lunchtime Leg 2
| 1 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen DS3 WRC | 2:45:24.5 |
| 2 | Mikko Hirvonen | Citroen DS3 WRC | +0:01.7 |
| 3 | Petter Solberg | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1:26.0 |
| 4 | Evgeny Novikov | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1:40.1 |
| 5 | Ott Tanak | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1:51.9 |
| 6 | Thierry Neuville | Citroen DS3 WRC | +2:22.4 |
| 7 | Dani Sordo | Mini John Cooper Works | +2:46.6 |
| 8 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4:55.4 |
| 9 | Armindo Araujo | Mini John Cooper Works | +6:33.9 |
| 10 | Ken Block | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +7:26.4 |
