CARDIFF, Great Britain (AFP) - France's Sebastien Loeb, driving a Citroen, was leading the Rally of Great after winning two of the day's six specials in this 12th round of the 16-race world championship to stay on course for the world title.
The world championship leader was ahead of Petter Solberg of Norway, the reigning world champion, and Finland's Marcus Gronholm was third.
Loeb won the first two specials of the day, benefiting going first as the rainy conditions meant the muddy roads got more and more slippery and therefore worse for those starting later.
Solberg, winner of this event the past two seasons, suffered time losses for that reason in the first two speicals.
"The conditions were terrible," said Solberg after winning the fourth special of the day. "Just like last year."
He went on to win the fifth and sixth specials of the day to trail Loeb by just 8.4sec, and to be 7.5sec ahead of Gronholm.
On Saturday, the drivers face 121km of timed sections, split into eight special stages.