Super Special Stage 23:  Dani Sordo once again raised the bar for the MINI WRC Team with a grand finale on the power stage at the Rally France. Dani and co-driver Carlos del Barrio set the second fastest time on the 23^rd special stage, behind Jari-Matti Latvala, and secure second place overall in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC. This result is one better than Dani's success at the Rally Germany, when he and Carlos finished third to give the MINI WRC Team its first WRC podium finish. The team can now celebrate its first second place in the World Rally Championship.

"It is fantastic to finish second at only our fourth rally this season with the MINI WRC Team," says Dani. "This result obviously makes me even more motivated heading to the Rally of Spain than I was beforehand."

Dani started the power stage just 6.7 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier in first place. In the end, Dani reduced the gap to 6.3 seconds. Congratulations to Sébastien Ogier on his victory and, of course, to Dani, Carlos and the entire MINI WRC Team on an outstanding second place.

Special Stage 22:  Two splits into the stage it looks as though Dani is going to gain on Ogier. Dani is 1.1 seconds faster, but then loses time because he is still on soft tyres, which deteriorate the longer the stage goes on. "That is normal for these tyres," says Dani. Ogier, on the other hand, has opted for the hard compound. Dani must ultimately concede a further 0.8 seconds to Ogier, whose lead is now 6.7 seconds.

Special Stage 21:  What a titanic struggle between Dani and Ogier! Having seen Dani make up plenty of time on this stage earlier in the morning, Ogier fights back and is a second quicker than Dani and Carlos. The duo must now throw caution to the wind on the second run through the "Vignoble de Cleeburg" stage if they want to catch Ogier.

Special Stage 20: After a break of about 45 minutes while the cars make their way to the next special stage, the next round sees the drivers tackle the 4.2-kilometre "Haguenau" stage, which will also host the Power Stage at the end of the rally. Ogier starts first and sets a time of 3.12 minutes. Dani is hungry to eat further into his lead. Dani looks very fast and crosses the finish line with exactly the same time on the clock as Ogier. 3.12 minutes for Dani.

Special Stage 19:  Dani is once again considerably quicker than Ogier and puts the leader under real pressure by setting the fastest time on Sunday's second special stage (5:54.6 minutes). Ogier now leads Dani by just 4.9 seconds. It has taken the MINI WRC Team driver just two really quick special stages to almost halve the comfortable 9.5-second lead that Ogier started the day with. Happy, Mr Sordo? "No," says Dani. "I think I could have been quicker."

Special Stage 18:  Dani is clearly a good early riser. He follows Ogier out onto Sunday's first stage at 07.24 and promptly makes up a whole 3.1 seconds on the leader. While Dani sets about his task with a steely determination, Ogier shows signs of nerves and only just avoids a false start, which would have meant a penalty.

Check out the action from Friday and Saturday.