A Citroen trio of Frenchmen Sebastien Ogier and world champion Sebastien Loeb and Norway's Petter Solberg complete the top four ahead of Latvala's teammate Mikko Hirvonen in fifth.

"I did a lot of work during the pre-event test and I think we got it right because I was very confident today," Latvala told the official world rally championship website (www.wrc.com) after a scorching day which finished at the Dead Sea.

Latvala will run first on Friday and will have to fight hard to protect his lead on the loose gravel that drivers in lower positions should not have to contend with.

Solberg, the 2003 world champion, was second heading into the day's final stage but slowed down to drop into fourth in view of grabbing a cleaner road position on Friday.

"Friday will be demanding but the first car through the stages today didn't lose so much time, so I'm not worried by the prospect of being in that position myself," Latvala said in a Ford statement.

"I will drive flat out and it is up to those behind to chase me," the Finn added.

Former Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen recovered from going off the road on stage three to battle back into a point-scoring position.

Loeb leads the overall standings on 43 points, six ahead of Hirvonen and 18 in front of Latvala.