Mads Ostberg of Norway raced into a 14.8 second lead over Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen on day one of the Swedish Rally yesterday.

Former world champion Petter Solberg was third, 57.4 seconds behind.

It was a difficult day for Sebastien Loeb, the winner of the last seven world championships. A puncture during the final stage of the day left the Frenchman trailing Ostberg by almost three minutes.

Former Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen was more than four minutes back at the end of the seventh stage.