Umeå (Sweden) (AFP) - Ott Tanak grabbed the Rally of Sweden lead from Craig Breen as night fell on the second leg of the season on Saturday.
Breen, an Irishman who drives for Hyundai, had set the pace from early on Friday morning.
"We messed up the afternoon with our tyre plan.There was not much I could do anymore in the last two stages," Breen, looking for his first win at this level, said
Breen trails Tanak, the Estonian who won the 2019 title, by 8.8sec, going into Sunday's three closing stages.
Ford driver Tanak also had problems with tyres, shredding one on the penultimate stage and having to switch to one without snow studs.
"I had planned for these two stages and we lost a full tyre on the previous one, so we had a full slick for this one.It was not easy," he told wrc.com.
Breen remained grimly hopeful.
"We tried to do the best that we could, but again in this one it's so difficult to get the car to do what I want," he said."We're going to give our best tomorrow and see what happens."
As the two leaders struggled with worn or shredded tyres at the end of the day, the chasing pack gained ground.
Belgian Thierry Neuville won the last three stages to climb to third in his Hyundai, 23.7sec behind Tanak.
But he was looking in his rear-view mirror at the Toyotas of world champion Kalle Rovanpera, 3.8sec further back and, in the distance, Welsh driver Elfyn Evans fifth, almost a minute behind Tanak.
"We're going to attack.As long as the rally is not over, there is always a chance to finish on the podium," said Neuville.
"It's going to be a tough fight tomorrow with Kalle, nobody will give up."
Esapekka Lappi, a Finn with Hyundai, spent much of the day in the top three and chasing his first podium finish, before smashing into a snow bank close to the finish of stage 13.
He was pulled out by spectators, but lost more than seven minutes.
"The speed has been okay," he said."But it doesn't help if you can't string three days together."
Eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, winner of the season-opener in Monte Carlo, is competing part-time in this year's circuit.Toyota's French driver gave Sweden a miss but plans to line up next month in Mexico.
