The Hyundai driver started the day 26.9 seconds behind, but after the opening two stages on Saturday morning he has slashed the deficit to just 8.8 seconds. Third last night, Mads Østberg has maintained position but the Norwegian has slipped further adrift of the frontrunners.

With dropping temperatures and snowfall overnight, conditions in the stages were tricky and while Ogier thought he would lose time in the first stage, he managed to inch out his lead over Paddon with a stage victory. But, in the second stage, road position proved critical and Ogier lost nearly 40 seconds to stage winner Jari-Matti Latvala, but crucially more than 20 seconds to Paddon running seventh on the road. Just two forest stages remain this afternoon before the crews return to Karlstad for the super special stage, meaning Paddon needs to continue capitalising on his advantageous road position with only one 15.87 kilometre stage then remaining on Sunday.

Østberg was lucky to escape a big moment in the first stage after sliding wide and he lost one position to Andreas Mikkelsen as a consequence. He retook the position in the following stage, putting 10 seconds between himself and his fellow countryman. Ott Tanak, fifth, has had a trouble-free morning and the Estonian has a comfortable lead over Dani Sordo, who lost time with a puncture in the first stage. Henning Solberg continues to enjoy his Rally Sweden outing and is fighting to maintain position ahead of Craig Breen.

Elfyn Evans leads the FIA WRC 2 Championship category and is ninth overall ahead of Teemu Suninen.