Former world champion Marcus Gronholm on Saturday stretched his lead in the Rally of Sweden in the first three stages out of six on the second day. In snowy conditions, Gronholm won the seventh and eighth stages to put 29.4sec between him and his fellow Finn and Peugeot teammate Harri Rovanpera.
British driver Colin McRae started the day in impressive fashion, winning the first stage to revive his chances in this second race of the season. But he broke a wheel in the day's second stage, costing him more than three minutes and hitting his hopes of getting back in touch with the Finns as he was lying 13th with three stages to go.
Reigning world champion Richard Burns also has some work to do as the Briton was 2min 28.2sec adrift of Gronholm halfway through the day. The Subaru team were wiped out with Norwegian Petter Solberg sidelined with engine problems halfway through the first stage of the day, after teammate and four-time world champion Tommi Makinen crashed out on Friday.
Makinen, who won the season-opening race in Monte Carlo in January, retired after his Subaru crashed into a wall of snow and damaged the car's radiator.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
