Sebastian Loeb seized the initiative in his battle with Mikko Hirvonen by dominating the second day of the Rally of Finland.
The four-time world champion finished first through all but one of the day's 10 stages on the Nordic gravel to open up a 14.4 second advantage over his World Rally Championship rival.
Loeb ensured he will be first out as road sweeper on Saturday, after he chose not to drive tactically in the evening.
The Citroen driver could have eased off in order to make Hirvonen go out first in the 15km Himos stage, but he elected to maximise his time advantage over the Finn.
He took four seconds off Hirvonen at Jukojarvi, and a further six-tenths of a second at Killeri 2.
‘I decided if I was quicker than Mikko through SS10 I would stay in the lead, so here I am,’ Loeb told www.wrc.com.
‘I don't know if Mikko was losing time today because of his road position but I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
‘It's been so hard to take these 13 seconds from him that I didn't want to give them back.
‘For sure it's going to be difficult tomorrow with the new roads, but we'll see.’
Loeb and Hirvonen were neck-and-neck on the first stage of the day, Vellipohja, and also tied Mokkipera 2, stage six.
But the Frenchman, seeking to become only the fourth non-Scandinavian to win the Jyvaskyla Great Race - Carlos Sainz, Didier Auriol and Markko Martin are the others - continued to eke out his advantage.
Hirvonen admitted he had been too cautious in some sections during the first seven stages, and duly followed up by winning stage eight at Urria, ending with a spectacular jump.
But Loeb was within seven-tenths of a second of his adversary on the 12km stage.
‘It's always very quick here, but I feel more confident than I did last year,’ Loeb added.
‘I feel better all over, in the balance of the care, in riding the bumps.
‘It's very easy in the stages that I know, but it's in the new bits this morning that I swerved the most.’
Stobart Ford duo Henning Solberg and Gigi Galli are third and fourth in the general classification, but Solberg is 53 seconds back from Loeb.
Hirvonen's strategy took a knock in SS3 when his Ford team-mate and compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out amid confusion.
Latvala's right-hand steering arm broke during Mokkipera 1, but he elected to carry on, only to lose control and spin into a ditch 4.7km through the stage.
Ford may choose to re-enter Latvala as a Superally entrant on Saturday.
Urmo Aava was forced to retire after running off the road 100m from the finish line in SS9.
