"We are too far behind [Jari-Matti] at the moment. I had a good drive but I was too cautious on the ice and lost a little time," Seb admitted post-SS14.

Sordo in contrast was happier and was quickest in two of the three stages this morning to haul his C4 WRC up from sixth to third. Dani now lies 27.9 seconds off his team-mate and a similar amount up on Petter Solberg, who is fourth.

"I am very happy now," said the Spaniard, "but the rally is not over yet. I need to concentrate on getting points for the championship."

Petter upped his pace on the repeat tests this afternoon and was third fastest in SS12 and SS14. He is still though some way off third and knows he is unlikely to get a podium: "It's very slippery. I can't get the car to pull properly. I will just keep pushing however and hope the guys ahead hit trouble," said 'Hollywood'.

Further down the order, Per-Gunnar Andersson ended proceedings in fifth, having slipped back from third overnight. The Swede didn't have the speed to hang onto his rostrum finish, but is still set to get good points for himself and the Suzuki World Rally Team.

"I wasn't able to match the performance I put in yesterday," P-G reflected. "But the car is fantastic and has been very reliable today."

Andersson's team-mate, Toni Gardemeister also finds himself in the points tonight - in eighth - having gained a place in SS14, when Mads Ostberg went off the road and got stuck in a ditch. Ostberg had been in fourth.

Henning Solberg and Francois Duval are sandwiched between the two Suzuki SX4 WRCs, in sixth and seventh, both running under the Stobart banner, although the former is not nominated to score manufacturer points.

"We had better pace today and felt much better with the car. I am trying to reach the top five so I am pushing hard to get there," said Henning, who is less than 4 seconds off Andersson.

Mikko Hirvonen and Britain's Matthew Wilson round out the top ten, the former having put in a real push after losing loads of time on day 1 with that costly roll in SS5. Mikko set top five-times in every single stage - including winning SS12, when he was just over 15 seconds faster than anyone else. As such he went from 29th overnight to 13th post-SS11 and then gained another four places this afternoon on the repeat loop.