Day 2am: Gronholm recovers

No non-Scandinavian driver has ever won in Sweden, and three-time winner Finn Gronholm appears to be the only man who can stop Estonian interloper Martin from ending this domination. In the new Peugeot 307 Gronholm served a note of intent with the fastest time on SS7, although Martin and Citroen driver Loeb both completed the stage 0.7s slower.

Gronholm set the pace again on SS8 and SS9, in the process moving up to third overall after Petter Solberg and Carlos Sainz both hit trouble. World champion Solberg lost 45s on SS6 with throttle response problems, while Sainz lost 50s on SS8 after filling his radiators with snow following a minor off.

However, event leader Martin didn't seem too troubled by Gronholm's push, especially because he lost a total of just 7.1s across the opening three stages. The gap between first and third remains a substantial 54.6s.

Martin appeared to have the measure of Loeb over SS7 and SS8, edging a further 6.7s clear of the Frenchman. However, the Citroen star hit back with an impressive fastest time on SS9, clawing back 4.2s of the overall deficit, which now stands at 25.8s. Martin was second fastest on SS9, with Gronholm third.

Ford privateer Janne Tuohino took advantage of Solberg and Sainz's misfortune to move up to fourth overall. However, Solberg ate into his advantage on SS8 and SS9, and is now just 4.9s behind the Finn.

Sainz has dropped to sixth overall, but is nearly a minute ahead of Henning Solberg. Troubled Peugeot driver Freddy Loix runs eighth overall, just 2.8s ahead of 206 privateer Daniel Carlsson.

Several other drivers hit trouble on the stages. Subaru youngster Mikko Hirvonen lost around six minutes on SS9 after beaching his Impreza WRC on a snowbank. However, he fared better than Ford's Francois Duval, who lost 43 minutes after going off on SS9.