Ostberg expecting tough afternoon

Having led from the first stage yesterday morning, Ostberg slipped to second on this morning's final test, with Mikko Hirvonen taking a lead of three tenths of a second into lunch.

Ostberg started day two with a 14s advantage, but paid the price for running first on the road, where he had to clear the loose snow from the surface.

"In the first stage this morning, there was more snow than I expected," he said. "It's difficult when the [snow] plough has been through; if they're using the narrow plough then the road is obviously a bit more narrow - and this can make the road a little different to how it was in the recce.

"We also hit the snowbank in that stage. It didn't feel so dramatic in the car, but it was quite a bang.

"This afternoon will be difficult, I don't like the stages on the second run through, when we start to see some gravel coming through. We will see what we can do, but this morning did go better than we expected, we didn't lose as much time as I thought we would."

Ostberg's previous best result in the World Rally Championship is sixth on the Rally of Portugal in 2009. He was eighth in Sweden last year.