Ogier storms clear in Sweden

Five fastest times from Friday's seven stages placed the Volkswagen driver 31.4 seconds ahead of nearest rival Sebastien Loeb by the time the evening superspecial in Karlstad was complete.

Barring problems for Ogier, the main interest now seems to be the battle for second.

Citroen driver Loeb inched his advantage over Jari-Matti Latvala's VW up by two tenths to 1.7s on the superspecial.

But both could come under pressure from Mads Ostberg, currently nine seconds behind, early on Saturday. Once his Friday morning overheating problems were resolved, Ostberg was confident he had to pace to recover to second - although he doubts Ogier can be caught.

Pontus Tidemand completed a strong first day in a World Rally Car in sixth position, just 10s behind fellow Ford man Evgeny Novikov.

Thierry Neuville and Mikko Hirvonen shared the quickest time on the superspecial.

While Neuville completed day one in eighth position, Hirvonen's morning mistake leaves him back in 32nd overall.