Day 1: Martin in command

The Estonian took the lead on SS3, the first run through the mammoth 52km Granberget test, when Gronholm lost his power steering. The Finn lost a minute while he nursed his Peugeot 307 to the finish, unable to slide his car through the icy stage, and dropped to seventh.

Martin extended his lead on the second run through the Granberget stage, but weather conditions caught out the teams thanks to the ban on gravel crews. In what should have been quicker road surface conditions, all the frontrunners suffered a loss of spikes in their tyres and fastest man Martin was 13secs slower on his second run, despite there being much more grip available in many places. Following the superspecial at Hagfors that ended the day, Martin leads Loeb by 23.3secs.

Gronholm was 3.1secs slower than Martin on the second run through Granberget, reporting "the power steering was okay, but I had no studs left!"

Petter Solberg was the man on the move, the Subaru star setting the third fastest time on SS4 which moved him into the top three and within two seconds of second placed Sebastien Loeb (Citroen). Solberg said: "There was more gravel than ice, and I lost time in the final kilometres."

Loeb's team-mate Carlos Sainz lost almost 30secs, along with his tyres' spikes, on SS4 and dropped down the order to fourth. Ford's Janne Tuohino holds fifth, but has the recovering Gronholm right behind him. Mikko Hirvonen (Subaru) and Francois Duval (Ford) round out the point scoring positions.

Gilles Panizzi has suffered terminal gearbox problems and is the day's most high profile retirement in his Mitsubishi Lancer WRC.

DTM racer Mattias Ekstrom continues to lead the hotly-contested Group N class, ahead of former Mitsubishi works driver Jani Paasonen.

For up-to-the-minute information, stay tuned to our live rally timings service, and look out for our regular reports from the stages and the service park.