Sebastien Ogier leads Rally of Sweden as Craig Breen sits in eighth

Sebastien Ogier continues to lead Rally Sweden despite facing mounting pressure from Hayden Paddon.

However, Ogier’s success was far from straightforward, with the French star asking for the event to be cancelled on Wednesday after warm temperatures melted large amounts of ice and snow on road sections which consequently caused the cancellation of nine stages.

“I’m a lucky man, it’s been a fantastic weekend!” beamed Ogier, who previously triumphed in the Karlstad-based event in 2015 and 2013.

Paddon was able to seal second place behind the dominant VW driver, with Mads Ostberg completing the podium places in his M-Sport Ford.

Ogier also won the final live TV power stage to claim three bonus points ahead of Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen and Kris Meeke of Northern Ireland.

“At the start of the week, conditions were bad”, he said.

Paddon and Kennard delivered a strong performance on Saturday morning, with consistent top three stage times, including a stunning run through the popular Vargåsen stage – which features the spectacular Colin’s Crest jump – to slash the gap to Ogier to just 8.8 sec.

“The weather came and the organisers did an incredible job”.

The second placing lifts Paddon to fourth-equal in the drivers’ standings.

“We got pretty close to Seb [Ogier] there in the morning run when road conditions played into our hands”.

“It wasn’t just me”. We thought it’d be impossible to stage a rally. “This would be a great result for the team and for ourselves if we can finish it off, so that’s the target now”.

Just two races into the FIA World Rally Championship season, a disagreement between drivers and organizers led to plans for a boycott by competitors.