Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb is just four timed stages away from winning his third Brother Rally New Zealand.
The Frenchman extended his lead over Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen during a wet final morning.
The driver who has been on a charge was Thierry Neuville who posted two fastest stage times and has an eye on fifth placed M-Sport Ford driver Ott Tanak.
Ford World Rally Team’s Petter Solberg had a trouble-free morning to hold third at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Russia’s Evgeny Novikov is fourth in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC and MINI WRC Team’s Dani Sordo holds seventh after taking the spoils on the morning’s super special stage. Ford’s leading factory driver Jari-Matti Latvala is eighth, 1m 54.9s behind Sordo.
Portugal’s Armindo Araujo holds ninth with America’s Ken Block rounding off the top ten.
In the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, local driver Hayden Paddon continues to lead Sweden’s PG Andersson despite suffering time loss due to a broken rear suspension on his Skoda Fabia S2000.
Marcos Ligato continues to lead the Production World Rally Championship and remains on track for his first win in the support category since 2001.
Rally New Zealand : End of SS18
| 1 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen DS3 WRC | 3:44:24.0 |
| 2 | Mikko Hirvonen | Citroen DS3 WRC | +0:17.4 |
| 3 | Petter Solberg | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1:32.6 |
| 4 | Evgeny Novikov | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +2:00.9 |
| 5 | Ott Tanak | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +2:22.7 |
| 6 | Thierry Neuville | Citroen DS3 WRC | +2:39.0 |
| 7 | Dani Sordo | Mini John Cooper Works | +3:01.6 |
| 8 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4:56.5 |
| 9 | Armindo Araujo | Mini John Cooper Works | +8:49.3 |
| 10 | Ken Block | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +9:31.9 |
