Sweden, Feb 08: Estonia's Markko Martin still leads Swedish rally despite second day comeback by Marcus Gronholm.
Estonian Markko Martin held his Swedish Rally lead on Saturday after finishing fourth in the 11.25 km Malta 2 stage, 7.6 seconds behind winner Marcus Gronholm.
Ford's Martin is yet to win one of Saturday's stages but has finished second in three of the five completed stages and not finished worse than fourth.
It was the fourth stage win of the day for Peugeot's Gronholm, who finished in five minutes and 34.9 seconds to stay third overall, 47 seconds behind Martin.
Citroen's championship leader Sebastien Loeb remained second overall but closed the gap between himself and Martin to 22.4 seconds after finishing third in the stage.
His Spanish team mate Carlos Sainz finished the stage just ahead of him.
Gronholm, bidding for a fourth win in five years, could not have hoped for a better start earlier in the day as he grabbed an opening three stages, which put him into third overall.
The Finn was sixth after a disappointing first leg on Friday but started off by topping the 20.78 km Sundsjon 1 stage, which was covered with snow, in 11 minutes 22.4 seconds.
He then won the 11.25 km Malta 1 stage and 20.13 km Fredriksberg stage before Loeb won the 26.4 km Lejen stage.
Gronholm's compatriot Janne Tuohino of Ford is fourth overall just ahead of Subaru's Norwegian world champion Petter Solberg who had a poor morning run.
Leading positions in the Swedish Rally after Saturday's tenth special stage: 1. Markko Martin (Estonia) Ford 2:00:09.8 2. Sebastien Loeb (France) Citroen 22.4 seconds behind 3. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 47.0 4. Janne Tuohino (Finland) Ford 1:25.3 5. Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru 1:36.7 6. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Citroen 2:10.1 7. Henning Solberg (Norway) Peugeot 3:05.3 8. Daniel Carlsson (Sweden) Peugeot 5:01.2 9. Freddy Loix (Belgium) Peugeot 5:35.7 10. Thomas Kolberg (Norway) Hyundai 6:59.3
Bureau Report