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Sebastien Loeb leads in the Rally of Cyprus - Source: Getty Images -
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Five-time world champion Sebastien Loeb will gamble on a bold tactical move to win Rally Australia on Sunday.
The Citroen star wrested the lead on day two from Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, but deliberately dropped off the pace on the last stage which determined Sunday's starting order.
With the leading car given the difficult job of clearing the road of gravel for his following rivals, Loeb decided he would have little chance as the first car out.
The Frenchman took over the pace on the 21st stage from Latvala and Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, his only real rival for the championship.
Hirvonen leads Loeb by just three points with three rounds remaining but will lead Sunday's procession of cars after being left in the lead at the end of Saturday.
The Ford Focus driver won two stages to Loeb's five on Saturday and took the overall lead by two seconds from Spaniard Dani Sordo - the only other stage winner - with Loeb third and Latvala fourth.
There were two sprints to be run around Murwillumbah Saturday night to complete the second leg, but Sunday's starting order won't change.
Latvala had dominated the opening day in his Focus RS and set the running throughout much of Saturday before being hobbled by a puncture late in the afternoon.
Loeb crept to within 0.8 of a second of Latvala with a blistering stage 20 run, moving into second with Hirvonen a further 5.4 seconds back in third place.
"I pushed very, very hard because Mikko was pushing really hard also," Loeb said. "This was a very difficult stage, I tried everything I could and went quite a bit faster.
The Citroen Total team leader Sebastien Loeb finally edged Latvala out of the lead on the short CTEK West stage and consolidated his spot on the 20.31km Dayco run which followed.
That handed him an 11.1 second break over the field but he decided to deliberately surrender it to get a better road position for the rally's final - and longest - day.
"I had to do it," Loeb said. "I had no chance of clearing the road tomorrow so we had to do it.
"At the moment we have good grip and a good feeling. It's okay. But I expected if I stayed in this position I will have no chance tomorrow - that's the problem," he said.
The Frenchman set off for stage 23 with no mechanical problems apparent, but dropped to fifth, 54.4sec off the lead, and out of the leading pack.
Latvala's form took a sudden dip as Loeb increased the pressure and the 24-year-old Finn was also hit by mechanical problems.
"I'm not happy with my driving," he said. "I went really wide four times in there because it was so slippery. I don't want to lose too much time.
"The we got a puncture although it looked like there was no damage to the car."
His right rear tyre was shredded, leaving the Ford running on its rim but Latvala said the incident would not affect his position on Sunday.
Hirvonen narrowly avoided a disaster when he hit a mailbox on the opening run of the day, which smashed a side window. He then crashed into the same mailbox - which had been put back up again - on the second run over the stage during the afternoon.
"It was so slippery I was going all over the lace and made lots of small mistakes," Hirvonen said. "It was not a good drive at all."
Meanwhile, New Zealander Hayden Paddon, who is driving a Group N production Mitsubishi but is ninth overall, has won the Pirelli Asia Pacific competition which will give him a fully-sponsored World Rally Championship drive for six rounds next year.
Cody Crocker was the leading Australian in Group N, taking his Subaru to 12th overall while the Toyota of Neal Bates was back in 22nd place.
