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World Rally Championship points leader Ott Tanak has stolen the lead of the Tour of Corsica as his battle with rival Elfyn Evans intensifies.

Tanak admitted on Friday that he "wasn't quite at the limit yet," but there was "no holding back" from the championship leader on Saturday morning.

He took 0.6 seconds out of Evans' 4.5s overnight lead on the first stage of the day, before doubling down on stage eight with a second stage win to slash another 3.7s from M-Sport driver Evans' advantage.

Both Evans and Tanak predicted that the 30-mile Castagniccia stage could prove decisive in the outcome of the rally, and the pair began stage nine separated by just 0.2s.

Tanak ultimately outpaced the Welshman again, eking out another 2.5s to establish a 2.3s lead.

Evans made a small mistake, touching a bank on a dirty part of the stage that "altered the handling of the car slightly."

Thierry Neuville's hold on third position remains strong, but he lost 7.4s to the squabbling duo ahead throughout the morning.

The Hyundai driver is now 17.2s shy of the lead, and admitted he was "too careful" on stage nine.

Neuville's team-mate Dani Sordo pulled away from Teemu Suninen throughout Saturday morning in their battle for fourth place.

The Hyundai driver started the day just 4.8s ahead of the second M-Sport Ford Fiesta, but extended that advantage to 40.4s throughout the morning as the Finn slipped to sixth.

The Spaniard capped off his morning with a stage win. M-Sport's Suninen was frustrated throughout the morning, but is still on course to complete his objective of finishing the rally without incident.

Citroen made big changes to its two C3s overnight, changing both its suspension and brakes in a bid to cure the handling issues that both drivers suffered on Friday.

But neither defending champion Ogier nor Lappi were much happier on Saturday. Ogier admitted the car "wasn't getting any faster," but came alive on the 30 miles of stage nine to wrestle fifth from Suninen with a time 28.4s quicker.

Lappi was just as dejected as he was on Friday, ending the morning loop seventh overall.

Sebastien Loeb remains eighth after losing two minutes on Friday's first stage with a broken steering arm.

The nine-time champion made another costly mistake on the final stage of Saturday morning when he ran wide and dug his i20 into a bank, prompting a spin.

Loeb was forced to execute a five-point turn on the narrow road, which cost him around 20s.

Toyota team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke began Saturday in 13th and 16th following a slow puncture for Latvala and broken suspension for Meeke.

Both drivers however are now in the top 10, but Meeke has passed Latvala to steal ninth.

He runs 8.5s ahead of the Finn, who admitted he was a tad cautious after not completing this loop of stages last year.

Leading positions after SS9

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 2h03m16.3s 2 Elfyn Evans, S.Martin M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 2.3s 3 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 17.2s 4 Dani Sordo, C.del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 33.3s 5 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Citroen Total WRT Citroen 49.7s 6 Teemu Suninen, M.Salminen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 1m13.7s 7 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Citroen Total WRT Citroen 1m47.7s 8 Sebastien Loeb, D.Elena Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 3m12.5s 9 Kris Meeke, S.Marshall Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 4m02.3s 10 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 4m10.8s