The Frenchman hit a water splash in the Svullrya stage and was unable to avoid going into the trees, damaging the steering of the Polo R WRC in the process. He nevertheless heads team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen by 24.2 seconds, the Norwegian hitting the same problem. Kris Meeke, who was Ogier’s closest challenger in Monte-Carlo, is third in the DS 3 WRC.

Despite unseasonably warm weather in Scandinavia, which has forced the organiser to cancel some stages, the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship got underway this morning with a mix of stages in both Sweden and Norway. Ogier was fastest in all three of the morning’s stages and heads the field going into the repeated stages this afternoon. Like the Frenchman, Mikkelsen has run without problems until he too hit the same water splash, damaging the front corner of the car. Meeke’s road position further down the field is proving to be more disadvantageous, but the Northern Irish driver is just 4.5 seconds further adrift in third.

Dani Sordo heads the Hyundai challenge, the Spaniard fourth despite suffering an overheating problem in the second stage. He is just six seconds ahead of Mads Østberg, who is struggling to find the right rhythm in the Fiesta RS WRC. Ott Tanak, the leading competitor on DMACK tyres, is sixth ahead of Hayden Paddon and Thierry Neuville, who has a transmission problem. Jari-Matti Latvala has had a disastrous start to the rally. Two kilometres before the end of the opening stage the Finn broke the front left driveshaft forcing him to limp his way through the stages with two-wheel drive until he reaches the safety of service tonight.

The crews now head back to the same three stages before returning to Karlstad for the only service of the day and the overnight halt.