Sebastien Ogier moves into clear Rally Sweden lead

World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier has eased out a 9.1s lead on the opening morning of Rally Sweden, the Frenchman winning three of the four stages so far as the rally entered the proper forests.

His VW Polo teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala, fought back on SS4 to take his first stage win of the event, but Ogier struck again on the final test before regroup.

“Maybe I’m not relaxed enough,” shrugged Latvala of his deficit to Ogier.

VW Polo one-two-three already

Andreas Mikkelsen has made it a VW one-two-three, but is already 19.6s down on Ogier.

Mads Ostberg is the first non-VW in his Citroen, and is just 2.4s behind his fellow Norwegian.

Thierry Neuville is the first Hyundai in fifth, ahead of Britons Kris Meeke (Citroen) and Elfyn Evans (Ford).

Leading positions after SS4:

Pos Driver      Car         Time/Gap
 1. Ogier       Volkswagen   31:13.9
 2. Latvala     Volkswagen   +9.1
 3. Mikkelsen   Volkswagen   +19.6
 4. Ostberg     Citroen      +22.0
 5. Neuville    Hyundai      +36.8
 6. Meeke       Citroen      +54.0
 7. Evans       Ford         +1:01.5
 8. Tanak       Ford         +1:04.5
 9. Kubica      Ford         +1:09.7
10. Prokop      Ford         +1:25.5