World champion Marcus Gronholm has stamped his authority on the Rally of Sweden by inching away into a comfortable lead at the end of the event's penultimate day.

After dropping a handful of seconds to fellow Finn Tommi Makinen on the first of Saturday's stages, Gronholm won three consecutive stages to ease away from the field.

Gronholm took the ninth, 10th and 11th stages to extend his advantage over Makinen's Subaru to 39.8 seconds with one stage to run on Saturday, the penultimate day of the event.

The Peugeot star added a quarter of a minute to his advantage with his peerless progress on the following runs after the cancellation of the eight stage following an accident.

Makinen is determined to put up a fight

Subaru driver Makinen had cut his fellow Finn's lead to 25 seconds after the first stage of the day, but could do nothing to prevent Gronholm easing clear.

Makinen managed to claw back a second on the final, short spectator stage, but Gronholm remains in control and his first win of the year is within his grasp.

The day was disrupted when works Peugeot driver Harri Rovanpera collided with the abandoned car of another Finn, Juuso Pykalisto, who had rolled on the eighth stage.

The crashed cars blocked the route, meaning racing could not continue.

As a result of Rovanpera's retirement, the third Peugeot of Englishman Richard Burns is now in a comfortable third place, although he is more than a minute adrift of arch-rival Gronholm.

Burns had been under intense pressure from Rovanpera and appeared poised to lose his third position before the accident.

Markko Martin is fourth in a Ford, while Scot Colin McRae has moved up to fifth in his Citroen after an inspired comeback drive.

McRae dropped way down the leaderboard after two spins on Friday, but has set consistently fast times in his attempt to make up for his frustration.

Norway's Petter Solberg, Makinen's team-mate, is sixth.