Snow block for Ogier as Neuville leads in Sweden
World champion Sebastien Ogier slumped down the field at the Rally of Sweden on Friday, paying a heavy price for being the driver tasked with "clearing" the snow-blocked roads. Ogier, behind the wheel of an M-Sport Ford Focus, had won the season-opening Rally of Monte Carlo in January and was therefore handed the starting role in Torsby on Friday. However, the conditions conspired against the French driver who finished the day in 12th spot, 2min 38sec off the lead held by Belgium's Thierry Neuville in a Hyundai. Fellow Hyundai drivers, Andreas Mikkelsen and New Zealand's Hayden Paddon were in second and third place at 4.9sec and 12.1sec behind respectively. Standings 1. Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL/Hyundai i20) 1h16:13.1, 2. Andreas Mikkelsen-Anders Jaeger (NOR/Hyundai i20) at 4.9, 3. Hayden Paddon-Sebastian Marshall (NZL-GBR/Hyundai i20) 12.1, 4. Craig Breen-Scott Martin (IRL-GBR/Citroen C3) 12.6, 5. Mads Ostberg-Torstein Eriksson (NOR/Citroen C3) 13.2, 6. Teemu Suninen-Mikko Markkula (FIN/Ford Fiesta) 29.6, 7. Esapekka Lappi-Janne Ferm (FIN/Toyota Yaris) 38.5, 8. Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (FIN/Toyota Yaris) 1:06.2, 9. Ott Tanak-Martin Jarveoja (EST/Toyota Yaris) 1:29.0, 10. Kris Meeke-Paul Nagle (GBR-IRL/Citroën C3) 1:43.6 Selected 12. Sebastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (FRA/Ford Fiesta) 2:48.8 Stage winners Tanak (SS1, SS2), Neuville (SS3), Mikkelsen (SS4), Paddon (SS5, SS8), Breen (SS6, SS7)
