Cardiff - Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala had strengthened his lead over Ford team-mate Petter Solberg and Citroen's Sebastien Loeb by the half-way stage of the Rally of Great Britain on Saturday.
The morning's three stages did not greatly affect the standings but Latvala nonetheless managed to increase his lead over Norway's Solberg from 12sec to 22.2sec, after comprehensively winning stage nine.
Eight-time champion Loeb, meanwhile, began to show his teeth, closing on Solberg after taking the honours in the eighth stage.
Norway's Mads Ostberg of Ford won the day's first stage and trailed Latvala by 38.3sec.
Standings after nine stages on the second day of the Rally of Great Britain on Saturday:
1. Jari-Matti Latvala-Mikka Anttila (FIN/Ford Fiesta RS) 1hr 50min 49.5sec, 2. Petter Solberg-Chris Patterson (NOR-GBR/Ford Fiesta RS) at 22.2sec, 3. Sebastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (FRA-MON/Citroen DS3) 26.1, 4. Mads Ostberg-Jonas Andersson (NOR-SWE/Ford Fiesta RS) 38.3, 5. Mikko Hirvonen-Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/Citroen DS3) 1:08.9, 6. Ott Tanak-Kuldar Sikk (EST/Ford Fiesta RS) 1:28.8, 7. Evgeny Novikov-Ilka Minor (RUS-AUT/Ford Fiesta RS) 1:46.1, 8. Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gisoul (BEL/Citroen DS3) 3:04.6, 9. Matthew Wilson-Scott Martin (GBR/Ford Fiesta RS) 4:00.0, 10. Martin Prokop-Zdenek Hruza (CZE/Ford Fiesta) 4:35.0
Stage winners:
Solberg (SS1, SS2), Latvala (SS3, SS4, SS5, SS6, SS9), Ostberg (SS7), Loeb (SS8)