Thierry Neuville is holding a charging Jan Kopecky at bay in Corsica as the Belgian continues to look good for his maiden Intercontinental Rally Challenge victory.
Skoda's Kopecky had reduced Neuville's overnight 23-second lead to just 14sec with victory on this morning's opening stage, where Neuville struggled with his Kronos Peugeot's handling with the added weight of a second spare tire on board. But Neuville responded in style on the following stage, beating Kopecky to the quickest time by 0.3sec to keep his advantage at 14.8sec with four stages remaining.
Kopecky's burst of pace has taken him clear of the battling Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda UK) and Freddy Loix (BFO Skoda), who remain just 3s apart as they fight for third.
Sometime leader Bryan Bouffier is still back in sixth after his Friday puncture, but is now starting to close in on fifth-placed Pierre Campana.