Day 1 am: Gronholm establishes lead

Citroen's 1-2-3 finish in the Monte Carlo must seem an age away after all three of its drivers spun in the first morning of the Swedish Rally leaving Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm free to establish a 25s lead over Finnish rival Tommi Makinen's Subaru Impreza.

Feb 7, 2003, 1:06 PM

Citroen's Monte Carlo Rally winner Sebastien Loeb won the first stage but fell from the pace, before spinning, as Gronholm stormed through and won the next two, the second of which, Granberget is the longest stage on the rally at 43.68km.

Makinen is making progress after a steady start and has moved up to second overall after Granberget, but was still some nine seconds adrift of the reigning world champion on the stage.

Britain's Richard Burns is running in the top three in his factory Peugeot 206 WRC but is being caught by his team-mate and snow specialist Harri Rovanpera. Gronholm's protégé Juuso Pykalisto was fifth fastest which also elevated him to fifth overall in his privateer 206.

Citroen's other star drivers Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz are now charging back through the field after their spins and are currently running 13th and 14th.