Neuville holds lead in icy Rally of Sweden, Ogier struggles

Thierry Neuville of Belgium won the Rally of Sweden on Sunday with a masterclass of cornering in the snow and ice

Belgium's Thierry Neuville mastered the tricky ice and snow to stay firmly in charge of the Rally of Sweden while world champion Sebastien Ogier was down in 10th spot. Neuville heads into the final day on Sunday with a 22.7sec lead over Ireland's Craig Breen in a Citroen with Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen, in another Hyundai, in third place, 32 seconds off the lead. Ogier, who won the season-opener in Monte Carlo in January, is a massive 4min 24sec behind Neuville as his M-Sport Ford Focus failed to overcome having to 'sweep' the deep drifts of snow as race starter. At least the Frenchman had the consolation of moving up in the standings following the retirement of Citroen's Kris Meeke whose race ended when his car crashed into a wall of snow on the 13th stage. Three more stages will be run on Sunday's final day. Standings: 1. Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL/Hyundai i20) 2h23:23.8, 2. Craig Breen-Scott Martin (IRL-GBR/Citroen C3) at 22.7, 3. Andreas Mikkelsen-Anders Jaeger (NOR/Hyundai i20) 32.0, 4. Hayden Paddon-Sebastian Marshall (NZL-GBR/Hyundai i20) 48.6, 5. Mads Ostberg-Torstein Eriksson (NOR/Citroen C3) 56.8, 6. Esapekka Lappi-Janne Ferm (FIN/Toyota Yaris) 1:05.8, 7. Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (FIN/Toyota Yaris) 2:03.3, 8. Teemu Suninen-Mikko Markkula (FIN/Ford Fiesta) 2:20.5, 9. Ott Tanak-Martin Jarveoja (EST/Toyota Yaris) 3:41.3, 10. Sebastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (FRA/Ford Fiesta) 4:24.9 Stage winners: Tanak (SS1, SS2, SS9, SS10, SS15), Neuville (SS3, SS11, SS13, SS14, SS16), Breen (SS6, SS7, SS12), Mikkelsen (SS4), Paddon (SS5, SS8)