Sebastien Loeb chased down the Ford of Jari-Matti Latvala to secure a 24-second lead at the end of the second day of the Rally of Jordan.
The Frenchman entered the day running third but slowly ate into the Finn's advantage to assume the lead on the day's penultimate test.
With Latvala purposely slowing on the final stage in order to give himself a better place in the running order on the final day, Loeb looks well set to land his second victory of the season.
The six-time world champion's mood would have been lifted on the first stage of the day when title rival Mikko Hirvonen exited the rally.
The Finn clipped a bank on the inside of a corner, shooting his Ford Focus across the road and into another bank, breaking his left-front suspension.
Loeb then moved into second place on stage 10, as he overtook Petter Solberg, and then continued to eat into Latvala's advantage through the afternoon loop.
The Citroen driver overhauled the deficit with a stage to spare, having drawn level on the previous test, prompting Latvala to slow his pace and fall behind another Citroen, driven by Sebastien Ogier, to lie third.
The Ford driver will hope that Loeb encounters difficulty running first on the road tomorrow.
The man running first tends to act as a road sweeper, effectively clearing the loose gravel off the roads and leaving a cleaner surface for those running behind.
