Today’s second loop comprised three special stages. Marcus Gronholm was quickest on the three tests, increasing his margin on Sebastien to 28.1 s.
“I think it’s really not my day for the tyre choice, analysed Seb at the midday service. I chose this afternoon the set which I should have selected this morning. The ground was really hard and some gravel appeared in some places. In these conditions, the long studs give to much mobility to the car. On top of that, I think Marcus feels extremely confident today and is even faster. Yesterday, I was exactly matching his pace. Today, I’m not that far but I can’t equal him. I will still try to push hard in the long stage of Vargåsen and we will see how it goes after that.”

During this group of stages, the leaderboard had been a bit ‘shaken’: Henning Solberg rolled on stage 11. The accident cost him 2 minutes. Manfred Stohl also stopped in the same stage.

Xevi Pons and Dani Sordo maintained their pace without making any mistake. “It was tricky, said the Catalan. There were a lot of rails in the icy ground. My feeling was quite good though.”

For Dani “the second passage in Sundsjön was our actual first one at high speed after we hit the snowbank.” Dani was satisfied of his tyre choice (long studs) which gave him a very good grip.

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