Guyana News-World champion Sebastien Loeb is closing fast on a fourth straight Rally of Corsica victory as he goes into the final day with a commanding 52.4 second lead over world title rival Mikko Hirvonen.

The French Citroen driver, who is also chasing a fifth successive global crown, won five of Saturday’s six stages with Belgian Francois Duval breaking his monopoly on the final leg to take third overall.

Loeb, who leads Hirvonen by 12 points with three rounds remaining, admitted he had half an eye on the wider picture as he eased up at the end of the day.

“I tried to slow down a bit, so it’s okay not to be fastest,” the Frenchman told the Press Association.

“The day has been pretty much perfect. We didn’t want to take any risks, especially with punctures, so we preferred to take two spares.

“My job is to do a good rally here, and that’s what I’ll do tomorrow.

“I’ll try to stay on the road and not make any mistakes.”

Hirvonen is also keeping his ever-diminishing title hopes alive with a solid drive and was happy to be ahead of his teammate Duval.

“We haven’t taken all the risks we could but we’ve been driving at a good speed. For tomorrow I’ll try to keep my second place; thinking about the title fight that’s the most important thing. Hopefully I can finish as it is and minimize the damage,” said the Finn.

Back in fourth spot was Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala, but nearly two minutes behind Loeb.

The Subarus of Norway’s Petter Solberg, the 2003 Corsica winner, and Chris Atkinson held fifth and sixth places.

Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala seized a nine-second lead after day two of the Rally of New Zealand on Saturday as world championship rivals Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen prepared for a final-day showdown. Latvala, a Ford team-mate of Hirvonen, swept through the 32.36km final stage of the day — the 13th and longest of the 18-stage rally — to regain a lead he last held after stage one on Friday. Read the full story

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa became Lewis Hamilton’s closest championship challenger with a copybook victory in the European Grand Prix at Valencia.

The Brazilian held off the challenge from Hamilton’s McLaren throughout the race on the new Spanish street track. Massa survived a stewards’ inquiry after being released into the path of another car after his second pit stop. BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica was third, while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen saw his title hopes dented with retirement. Read the full story

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa claimed pole position for Sunday’s European Grand Prix as Valencia’s street circuit made its debut on the Formula One calendar.

The Brazilian clocked one minute 38.989 seconds to take the top grid position from McLaren’s championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 0.210 seconds. BMW’S Robert Kubica was third, just ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. There was disappointment for the home crowd as Renault’s Fernando Alonso was 12th - his worst placing of the season. Read the full story

Valentino Rossi was gifted victory in the Czech MotoGP after Casey Stoner crashed when he was comfortably ahead.

Rossi extended his championship lead over Stoner to 50 points with the win. Reigning world champion Stoner was one second clear of Rossi when, under no particular pressure, he skidded into the gravel on lap six. His Ducati was too badly damaged for him to continue and Rossi went on to win, ahead of Toni Elias in second and Loris Capirossi in third. Afterwards, Stoner told BBC Sport he was not quite sure what had happened. “You know as much as I do,” he said. “The bike was moving round quite a bit but that one just caught me out. No excuses, no nothing - it just caught me out.”

Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi followed his win in China with victory at the French MotoGP to move to the top of the world championship standings.

The seven-time world champion never looked back after overtaking Casey Stoner on lap eight, becoming the first rider to win two races this season.

Jorge Lorenzo did superbly to finish in second place ahead of Colin Edwards, despite having two fractured ankles.

James Toseland crashed out on lap three after colliding with Andrea Dovizioso.

Rossi controlled the race perfectly to move to the top of the championship standings on 97 points, three clear of Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo, who are tied in second place.