World champion Sebastien Loeb, who is nearing a seventh consecutive world title, remained in sixth but reduced the gap on Solberg to around 38 seconds.

Norway's Solberg shrugged off a fever to open up a healthy lead in his privately-run Citroen on Friday but his advantage on Saturday was cut to 3.7 seconds, largely because of a 10-second penalty for leaving the line 0.1 seconds too early on stage 13.

Jari-Matti Latvala took over at the top of the standings for two stages, until a broken driveshaft on his Ford allowed Solberg to retake the initiative ahead of Sunday's final leg.

"If it hadn't been for the jump start, we would have been further ahead," Solberg, who has not won in five years, told world rally's official website www.wrc.com.

"I think I can win this rally, we have been so close so many times this year. Let's see if it happens... I'm going to give it everything." Mikko Hirvonen lies second in the 10th round of the championship with Sebastien Ogier, second in the title race, a close third. Former Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen is over seven minutes behind the lead in eighth.

Frenchman Loeb leads the championship standings by 58 points but endured a difficult first leg on Friday after a broken front-left damper hurt his pace.

The Citroen driver would take the title on Sunday in the unlikely event he fights back to secure a 60th world championship win and none of his rivals finish in the top six.