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With just one short stage remaining on Sunday, Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb looks set to claim his sixth victory in Rallye Monte-Carlo, the opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

The Frenchman has a commanding two minute 41.6 second lead, with Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg in second and third respectively.

Today’s two loops of two stages were classics of the event, including the run over the legendary Col de Turini, with the second loop run this evening in darkness.

Loeb’s lead is such that the Frenchman could afford to ease the pace, but the pressure remained on those behind him as they fought for the final podium positions. Sordo remains second but the gap between him and Solberg – who has set three of the four fastest stage times today – has now been reduced to 19.1 seconds. However, with just a 5.16 kilometre stage tomorrow, the top three positions look set to be unchanged.

Mikko Hirvonen holds fourth, the Finn winning the opening stage to edge closer to Solberg. However, he lost confidence in the damp conditions on the following stage and then a spin in stage 16 dropped him further back. He is nevertheless in a comfortable position ahead of Russian, Evgeny Novikov.

François Delecour is sixth, the Frenchman suffering with power steering problems earlier in the day. Pierre Campana in the second MINI is seventh with Ott Tänak rounding off the top eight. The only leading retirement of the day was that of Per-Gunnar Andersson, who was forced out with a fuel leak that resulted in a small fire.

Rallye Monte-Carlo Day 4 – Unofficial Results

1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën DS3 WRC 4:29:12:1
2. Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio - MINI Cooper Works WRC +2:41:6
3. Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson - Ford Fiesta RS WRC +3:00:7
4. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Citroën DS3 WRC +4:05:6
5. Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet - Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6:00:8
6. François Delecour/D Savignoni - Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6:55:7
7. Pierre Campana/S de Castelli - MINI Cooper Works WRC +8:21:3
8. Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk - Ford Fiesta RS WRC +10:27:2
9. Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza - Ford Fiesta RS WRC +16:06:3
10. Armindo Araujo/Miguel Ramalho - MINI Cooper Works WRC +16:09:2