Sebastien Ogier has maintained his Rally Sweden lead after Saturday’s four morning stages, with the Frenchman now 25 seconds ahead of Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb who said it was impossible to catch up with his rival.
Ogier went into the third day with a half-minute lead over Loeb, but the Volkswagen driver opted to control his pace rather than keep on pushing.
Jari-Matti Latvala meanwhile dropped 13.8 seconds behind Loeb despite going quickest in SS10; the Finn is now under heavy pressure from Qatar M-Sport Ford’s Mads Ostberg who’s just 1.5 seconds behind in fourth.
Ostberg’s team-mate Evgeny Novikov remains fifth, 1 minute and 25 seconds behind Ogier.
Juho Hanninen and Thierry Neuville benefited from engine problems for Pontus Tidemand to move up one position each; they’re now sixth and seventh respectively.