Ogier leads into final day in Corsica

Rain hit on the opening stage of the loop but Ogier managed to avoid it, taking another fastest stage time. Neuville went second quickest.

But Neuville produced a rapid time in the changeable conditions on SS8, 10.7s quicker than his rival for second place, Andreas Mikkelsen.

He was also 13s quicker than Ogier, but the Frenchman still leads by 46.5s overnight.

Ogier's VW team-mate Mikkelsen couldn't replicate his morning pace. He started the loop having closed to within 5.4s of Neuville, but the Hyundai driver's charge extended that gap to 21.5s.

Jari-Matti Latvala continued with myriad problems including the car's performance in the corners and the brakes.

He did get a slice of luck as a charging Craig Breen in fifth caught rain thanks to running later on the road in SS7. His deficit to Latvala almost doubled to 33.1s.

Breen rebounded in the next test though, to reduce the gap back down to 23.6s.

Hayden Paddon continued to struggle with his asphalt pace in sixth, but his time in SS8 was much closer to the frontrunners.

Paddon's Spanish Hyundai team-mate Dani Sordo closed in behind the New Zealander with a second-fastest time on the last stage of the day.

The two M-Sport WRC cars of Eric Camilli (who caught rain in SS7) and Mads Ostberg finish the day eighth and ninth.

But Elfyn Evans is only 20s behind in 10th. Evans is technically Camilli and Ostberg's team-mate, but they both have the top-class WRC car as opposed to Evans WRC2 R5-spec car.

The Welshman - who finished second overall last year on this event in similarly tricky conditions - further extended his lead in WRC2 over Skoda's Jan Kopecky to over half a minute after taking 15.5s out of his rival on SS8 alone.