Stage 11: Sainz retires from sixth

The Spaniard stopped on the road section prior to stage 11 when an oil pump belt broke on his Ford Focus. He had been running in sixth position.

SEAT driver Toni Gardemeister is also out, having stopped in the stage with a mechanical problem.

At the front of the field Marcus Gronholm is looking increasingly unstoppable, further extending his lead with another fastest stage time.

Colin McRae has now moved up to second place, but only 0.5s covers the Scot, Thomas Radstrom and Tommi Makinen in the battle to be 'best of the rest' behind the flying Gronholm.

Richard Burns is not too far away in fifth, while Francois Delecour could soon make it two Peugeots in the top six, having closed on Juha Kankkunen all morning.

The retirements of Sainz and Gardemeister have allowed Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix and rising star Markko Martin into the top ten. Martin has been making good progress today and is now just 7s behind Loix.

Overall positions after stage 11, Nyhammar:

T Makinen 14m37.1s

R Burns 14m37.9s

C McRae 14m38.3s

T Radstrom 14m39.5s

F Delecour 14m46.9s

K Eriksson 14m48.9s

M Martin 14m49.0s

D Auriol 14m49.6s

J Kankkunen 14m54.7s