Thierry Neuville leads a Hyundai one-two after the Friday morning opening loop in Sweden, while championship leader Sebastien Ogier sits 11th.
Neuville wrestled the lead from the overnight leader Ott Tanak on the second stage of the day Svullrya – the longest test of the rally.
He topped that one while his team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen was fastest on the third and final stage of the morning, to make it a Hyundai one-two heading into the service break. Mikkelsen sits 3.7 seconds behind Neuville.
One of the surprises of the morning was Espekka Lappi, he was in the top-five fastest stage times in each of the three morning stages, to go third overall, just 5.3s off the rally lead.
Mads Ostberg, making his 2018 debut for Citroen this weekend, ended Friday morning in fourth overall, benefiting from road position.
His team-mate Craig Breen is 15s off the lead in fifth place ahead of the Toyota duo of Jari-Matti Latvala and Ott Tanak, who slipped down the order from one-two to sixth and seventh position.
The final stage of the morning saw trouble for a number of runners with a big rock appearing in the middle of a fast-section halfway through the stage, Elfyn Evans hit it and picked up a rear-right puncture on his Fiesta.
Kris Meeke also reported a collision with it but didn’t lose as much time as Evans. He’s 10th overall behind Teemu Suninen and Hayden Paddon, who sits eighth in his first appearance of 2018.
Ogier is 11th after starting first on the road, only Evans is behind him of the WRC regulars. Ogier is 47.7s off the lead, with Evans a further 50s adrift.
Toyota junior Takamoto Katsuta is the surprise WRC2 leader, ahead of Skoda young gun Ole Christian Veiby.
