Frenchman Loeb, bidding for a eighth straight world title,
holds a 28.3 second lead in his Citroen over Ford's Hirvonen after Friday's
runner-up Petter Solberg dropped back to fourth.
Loeb lost time after being saddled with cleaning the road of
loose surface gravel but he was still pleased.
"It has been very difficult and I'm very happy with the
times I have done," he told www.wrc.com during a service halt in Olbia.
"It was really important to take some risks and push
very, very hard." Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala was quickest almost all day on
Saturday as he battled back from a retirement in stage two on Friday.
Mini suffered another retirement on their return to the
sport with Kris Meeke's car breaking down for the second straight day but team
mate Dani Sordo still lies sixth overall.
The
rally of Italy is the fifth race of the 13-event season.
