Loeb takes advantage of Gronholm exit

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BP Ford's Gronholm hit a wall in the fourth stage on Friday near Sligo while running third behind Citroen duo Loeb and Dani Sordo.

The Finn was taken to hospital for medical checks, although both he and co-driver Timo Rautianinen were released hours later.

More lasting damage may, however, have been done to Gronholm's hopes of clinching a third drivers' crown after Frenchman Loeb, who needs to win both in Ireland and Britain to seal the title, consolidated his lead on Saturday morning.

And Gronholm admitted: "It will be hard to lift the drivers' championship if Sebastien Loeb wins this weekend, but there are a lot of kilometres remaining here and on the final round in Great Britain, so I'm not giving up yet."

Of his crash on Friday, he added: "The accident happened near the finish on a wide, right corner.

"I braked for the bend but it was extremely slippery and the car skated off the road. I managed to turn it sideways before hitting a stone wall hard.

"It was a big impact because the car stopped immediately. Both wheels on my side of the car were pulled off.

"We were taken to hospital where we were both given a scan but that showed no problems. My neck is sore but otherwise I'm okay."

Loeb won Saturday morning's special stage by just a tenth of a second from Jari-Matti Latvala, with Sordo, still second overall, just 0.2secs further back.