Eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb extended his lead on the third day of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, with Daniel Sordo pulling ahead of Petter Solberg for second place yesterday.

Loeb won eight of the 10 stages over the first two days. Even though the Frenchman failed to win any of yesterday’s three stages, he leads Sordo by 2 minutes, 12.4 seconds. The Spaniard, meanwhile, was more than one minute ahead of Solberg.

Mikko Hirvonen, Loeb’s Citroen teammate, was fourth overall and pressuring strongly for a podium place after winning the 12th and 13th stages yesterday.

There are four more stages today and a short final stage tomorrow.

Solberg started the day aggressively in his Ford and won the 11th stage, and finished it 13.2 seconds ahead of Sordo to move back into second place. Loeb could manage only sixth and was 16.7 seconds slower than Solberg.

But the icy 12th stage from Cimetiere de Vassieux to Col de Gaudissart proved an eventful one as Solberg struggled throughout and dropped nearly one minute behind Sordo.

Citroen took the top two places with Hirvonen beating Loeb, and Sordo in fourth behind his Mini teammate Pierre Campana of France.

“It was hard to keep the car on the road, as the conditions kept changing,” Loeb said. “First there was some ice in one corner, then there wasn’t in the next one. I’m happy to have got through it.”

Solberg, who was way down in 11th spot on stage 12, lamented choosing the wrong tires.

“I almost came off the road,” the Norwegian said. “It was worse than I had expected.”

The 13th stage was the longest of the day, and was again dominated by the Citroens, with Russia’s Evgeny Novikov third fastest in his Ford ahead of Sordo and Solberg.

“The car’s amazing when it has a consistent grip,” said Hirvonen, who closed the gap on Solberg to 23.8 seconds.