Rally Sweden: Mikko Hirvonen resigned to salvaging bonus points

The Citroen star rolled his DS3 WRC on the first stage of Friday morning, dropping 15 minutes on the stage and a further 10 minutes on the next two.

"We dropped time in the next stages because the air intake became frozen with snow and the engine went to safe mode," said Hirvonen.

"I have to stay on the road for the next three days and wait for the power stage. That's everything for me."

Hirvonen said the impact in the roll had been gentle and that the delay had all been snow-related.

"I ran wide in one corner and dropped a wheel in a ditch," he said.

"There had been a snowbank, but somebody else hit that and moved it. The car spun across the road and rolled in another snowbank.

"The roll itself was beautiful, we did no damage to the car at all. But then we were in such deep snow, it took so long to dig the car out. It was so frustrating!"

The power stage is Sunday's 13-mile Torsby test.

Hirvonen was 23 minutes behind a point-paying 10th position when he returned to the Rally Sweden stages for Friday afternoon.