Frenchmen Loeb and Loubet drove brilliantly during the Friday stage and were first and second respectively before today's six special stages - only 1.7 seconds separated the duo before Saturday.
But after finishing the first stage of the day, ss8, rally leader Sébastien Loeb was left standing on the transport stage.
He was heard talking about the alternator belt and worked frantically, along with map reader Isabelle Galmiche, to get the car rolling again.
But failed to repair the car in time and is forced to break for the day.
- Bad luck for Loeb who had trouble fixing the problem.
WE have seen similar incidents before where they managed to repair quickly, says Jonas Kruse.
Loubet suffered a puncture
Meanwhile, Pierre-Louis Loubet also encountered problems.
The 25-year-old suffered a puncture on stage nine and dropped over a minute, plummeting to seventh overall.
- No luck, what can I say.
I didn't hit anything.
It will turn around, says Loubet in the goal at ss10.
Neuville new leader: "Anything can happen"
Esapekka Lappi was third before the day, but he too had problems with the car and failed to record any top times.
On the other hand, Belgian Thierry Neuville did, who ended the morning with two stage victories and leads the rally halfway through the day.
- He has sneaked in behind and made no mistakes.
Smart driving and now he has picked up speed too.
But anything can still happen, the afternoon loop that awaits is extremely demanding, says Jonas Kruse.
Neuville has a lead of a whopping 31 seconds to Esapekka Lappi, Ott Tänak third overall 1.3 seconds behind Lappi.
Three legs remain in the afternoon.
Rovanperä lost its rear wing and tailgate
WC leader Kalle Rovanperä was greatly disadvantaged by his starting position, as first on the road, during Friday.
The 21-year-old was 9th heading into today and on ss9 he hit something hard at the back, tore off the rear wing and the tailgate came off completely and also damaged the rear suspension.
Rovanperä has fallen to 19th place overall and is almost 15 minutes behind Neuville.
Highlights:
See photos from the opening stretch and the Friday stage:
See this morning's section 10 Tarzan, 23.37 kilometers: