SS17: Hirvonen claws some time back

Mikko Hirvonen’s decision to save tyre grip for the relatively long Fredriksberg stage appeared to pay off as the Citroen went fastest on stage 17 - but with Jari-Matti Latvala only 2.7 seconds slower, the Ford still holds a 21.1s lead.

Latvala felt it was better to push harder earlier in the afternoon and build a gap, a decision he felt had been justified as he surveyed the stage 17 times.

"Let’s see at the end of the day how much we lost here. At the moment it’s a good feeling, I’m quite confident," he said.

Hirvonen said he used everything his tyres had left as he took the stage win.

"I know my tyres are completely shattered now, I don’t have any studs left," he said.

Mads Ostberg was third fastest behind the two leaders and narrowed the gap to third-placed Petter Solberg to 10.6s - but rued an opportunity to gain more time, having saved his tyres only to encounter an electrical glitch.

"I had some electrical problems with the car in the stage - it went into launch mode," said Ostberg.

"It was just cutting the engine all the time. I pulled everything and then it went off after a few hundred metres, but we lost a lot from this.

"I suffered a lot on the last stage to have proper tyres for this stage and then this happens. It’s just a shame. It was a nightmare really."

Also suffering on stage 17 was Sebastien Loeb, who lost a few seconds to tyre damage and is now sharing sixth place with Henning Solberg.

"I got a puncture and I continued to drive like that and it went completely off," Citroen driver Loeb explained. "I hit a stone on the road, but it was on the line so I couldn’t do anything. What can I do?"

That also gave Evgeny Novikov some encouragement in his efforts to stay out of Loeb’s reach in fifth place. The M-Sport Ford driver was fourth quickest and said he was going flat-out to make it hard for Loeb to chase him down.

"I am pushing to the maximum, I am doing everything that I can. We are really pushing a lot," the Russian promised.

Further down the top 10, eighth-placed Patrik Sandell is now just 1.7s in front of Martin Prokop after losing half a minute when he realised he had left protective material on his MINI that should have been removed prior to the stage - sending engine temperatures soaring.