Conditions are difficult, says Sainz.

Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya powered their Ford Focus RS up into third place on this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship during today's middle group of speed tests after Ford Rallye Sport team-mates Colin McRae and Nicky Grist slipped off the leaderboard after stopping to change a broken wheel.

The Spanish duo were fourth fastest through the 18.14km Fredriksberg, one of the rally's classic stages that winds its way alongside the picturesque Lake Sk?rsj?n, before posting third quickest time through the 28.07km Lejen, a new stage this year.

"Conditions are difficult," said 39-year-old Sainz. "There's a lot of gravel appearing through the snow and ice and the roads are very rutted due to the soft surface. The car becomes trapped in the ruts and so it's hard to choose the line you want."

For McRae there was only disappointment in Fredriksberg. "We came out of a right-hand bend about 10km after the start on exactly the right line but there was something lying under the snow right on the edge of the road. I don't know what it was but we hit it and it instantly shattered the rear left wheel. We had to stop and change the wheel and lost about three minutes," said McRae, who dropped to 13th.

Four other drivers also reported hitting the object, sixth-placed Jani Paasonen losing a similar amount of time and sliding back to 18th.

Finland's Janne Tuohino and Petri Vihavainen remain seventh, an excellent performance in their 2001-specification Focus RS while Francois Duval and Jean-Marc Fortin are improving with every stage on their debut in a Focus RS.

The 21-year-old Belgian driver lies 15th, the team having fitted new dampers and replaced the motor which operates the car's fly-by-wire throttle at the previous service park. He bent a left rear wheel on both stages and a broken windscreen wiper caused him to stop briefly in the rainy Lejen, losing a handful of seconds.