The Frenchman, after losing the lead of the rally with a slide into a snow bank on SS9, beat Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in the first heat of the evening on the 1.2-mile Karlstad test by 1.5s to take his fourth stage win of the day. With Mikkelsen setting a time 1.4s off the pace in his heat against Mads Ostberg, Ogier will go into Saturday's stages 24.7s shy of the leader in fourth place. Latvala remains over eight minutes behind the top cars in 23rd overall after getting his Polo R WRC beached on the previous stage. Hyundai's Thierry Neuville, who easily overcame Elfyn Evans on the superspecial, managed to trim Mikkelsen's advantage by 0.6s, but now has Ostberg breathing down...
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