Elfyn Evans’ Rally Sweden lead grew on Friday’s final stage as a spin dropped Kalle Rovanperä from second to third.
Toyota rookie Rovanperä had starred in the morning to overhaul World Rally champion Ott Tänak for second by the end of the loop of three full-length stages.
But a spin and stall at a hairpin on the short Torsby sprint stage that concluded Friday’s shortened itinerary cost Rovanperä six seconds.
He is still in third overall, but now 14s behind leader Evans and 6s behind stage winner Tänak. Evans carries an 8.5s advantage into Saturday.
Though the Torsby stage lacked snow, the surface was sufficiently frozen to provide an ice base for the studded tires and Rovanperä’s incident was the only drama.
Sebastien Ogier remains fourth ahead of Esapekka Lappi, with Thierry Neuville under pressure from Hyundai team -mate Craig Breen for sixth.
Jari-Matti Latvala withdrew from Torsby to investigate the problems that afflicted his privately-entered Toyota in the morning.
Positions after Friday
1 Evans (Toyota)
2 Tänak (Hyundai) +8.5s
3 Rovanperä (Toyota) +14.3s
4 Ogier (Toyota) +17.8s
5 Lappi (M-Sport Ford) +20.9s
6 Neuville (Hyundai) +23.6s
7 Breen (Hyundai) +24.2s
8 Suninen (M-Sport Ford) +31.4s
9 Katsuta (Toyota) +49.6s
10 Ostberg (Citroën) +1m45.7s
