Ostberg relaxed about rivals' tactics

Leading into today, Ostberg was first on the road and unable to do anything to counter the jockeying for position around him. His plan is to continue at the same speed tomorrow, but he says if there is loose snow around tomorrow, neither he or rally leader Mikko Hirvonen will win.

"I don't care about the team orders, I'm not bothered," Ostberg said. "If they need to play with the little guy, then let them play - I take it as a compliment.

"It's going to be really hard work tomorrow, there's no doubt about that. It's going to be a tough day. I'll be pushing, of course, but if the roads are anything like today then we can forget it [winning] - and so can Mikko."

Hirvonen was full of praise for Ostberg's performance.

"Everybody has made some small mistakes here and there, but he's been very good - he has driven really well," said the works Ford driver. "It's very impressive and now it's a big fight for tomorrow."

Hirvonen dropped time with a big spin on SS13 and admitted he was lucky to get out of the incident.

"I thought we could get stuck in there," he said. "It was 12 or 15 seconds that we lost, something like that, but it could have been a lot worse."