Latvala forges ahead

Finn Latvala ran near the front throughout the day, and enjoyed a fine battle for the lead with former team-mate and current Citroen driver Mikko Hirvonen during the morning loop of stages.

Hirvonen, who has won the last two editions of the Karlstad-based event, led at the day's halfway point but paid the price for pushing hard on the afternoon run through the stages, with the low levels of snow and ice causing huge problems for the studded Michelin tyres.

Latvala, having looked after his rubber, snuck back in front on stage eight before producing an excellent performance on stage nine to beat Hirvonen by 14.6 seconds and open up an advantage of more than 17 seconds, which was trimmed slightly after the short superspecial stage at the close of the day.

Loeb struggles

"My start position strategy paid off and it was an excellent day. I made a few small mistakes this morning which cost me the lead and the car oversteered a little, but that improved as the day continued."
Jari-Matti Latvala Quotes of the week

By this stage Loeb was languishing in seventh place. The Frenchman had been running around the fringes of the top three and appeared to be finding his feet when he set the fastest time on the stage immediately after the mid-day break, but his Citroen DS3 WRC struck a snow bank just two corners into stage seven and he lost over two minutes to fall back down the field.

His misfortune left factory Ford driver Petter Solberg and Adapta Ford's Mads Ostberg battling for third, with Solberg taking the honours with a strong afternoon run, having lost time with a spin this morning.

And such were Hirvonen's struggles late in the day, Solberg now stands just 1.8 seconds behind the man he replaced in the Blue Oval team to raise the prospect of a potential Ford one-two finish.

But the day belonged to Latvala, who was delighted to see his patient approach pay off.

"My start position strategy paid off and it was an excellent day," he said.

"I made a few small mistakes this morning which cost me the lead and the car oversteered a little, but that improved as the day continued.

Remained calm

"I knew I was losing time to Petter in the penultimate stage because my studs were more worn, but I remained calm and it turned out that other drivers were losing even more.

"Today was the hardest for the tyres but the grip remained good this afternoon.

I must keep pushing tomorrow and it's important to stay focused. Keeping clear of the snow banks will be key because it's all too easy to be dragged into the soft snow and become stuck."

Evegny Novikov and Henning Solberg were next up in fifth and sixth with the recovering Loeb having hauled himself ahead of the Prodrive Mini of home favourite Patrik Sandell, whose team-mate Dani Sordo was struck by technical problems.

The top 10 was rounded out by the privateer Ford Fiestas of Martin Prokop and Eyvind Brinildsen.