Intro:

Jari-Matti Latvala won the first four of Saturday's seven (October 4th) special stages to consolidate his lead in the World Rally Championship's Rally of France.

Script:

Former Formula One driver Robert Kubica edged up the overall standings of the WRC (World Rally Championship) at the Rally of France on Saturday morning.

Despite running off the road on a couple of occasions, the Pole moved up from seventh place to fifth by the end of the day's first two specials stages - eight and nine.

Jari-Matti Latvala headed into Saturday's seven stages leading by 8.2 seconds overall.

However, the Finn won the first four stages of the day and increased his advantage to 23.4 seconds by the end of stage 12.

The main threat to Latvala's victory hopes is fellow Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelsen.

The Norwegian finished inside the top four in the first five of Saturday's stages to remain second overall, but Latvala looks likely to deny Mikkelsen his first win of the season.

Kris Meeke sat third overall heading into special stages 13 - over a minute-and-a-half in arrears of Latvala - with Dani Sordo fourth.