Neuville takes control in Sweden

Hagfors (Sweden) (AFP) - Belgium's Thierry Neuville grabbed the Rally of Sweden lead on Saturday after the third and penultimate day of racing.

Neuville steered his Hyundai i20 to the fastest time on the final stage to grab the lead from Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen by just over one second, with world champion Sebastien Ogier 9.6sec off the pace in third.

"It's certainly one of the best specials of my career," said the Hyundai driver. "I felt great in the car and really enjoyed myself."

The razor-edged battle looks set to be heated going into Sunday's final three stages on the snow in Sweden.

Mikkelsen had taken the lead on Friday, after France's Ogier and Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala, a three-time winner in Sweden, suffered technical problems.

Ogier, who also tops the world championship standings, had been leading until his windscreen wipers stopped working.

The VW Polo driver then also hit a wall of snow on the ninth special in which he lost 30 seconds, and had been fourth overnight before storming back with the best times in three of Saturday's specials.