Gronholm is 29 points behind championship leader Sebastien Loeb with eight rounds remaining and must begin to close that gap quickly if he is to take a third world crown.

As things stand, Gronholm will close up on Loeb, who has been off the pace so far this weekend.

Gronholm leads by 42.3 seconds from Ford’s Markko Martin, who became the first non-Scandinavian winner in Finland last year, with Citroen’s Carlos Sainz 37.6secs further back in third.

Janne Tuohino continued his strong form on his home event today to run fourth, although fifth-placed Loeb is closing in and trails by just 5.3secs after 13 stages.

Loeb has given up on a podium finish though as set-up problems hit home. He will concentrate on getting to the finish instead, especially as title rival Petter Solberg retired yesterday to ease the pressure on him.

“It’s not going to be possible for us to fight for a podium place or victory,” said Loeb.

“We’re trying to make the car easier to drive, so there has to be a compromise. We’ve found some more speed, but in the fast sections it’s still difficult to drive.”

Jani Paasonen is a stunning sixth for Skoda in the Czech team’s best showing for some time.