Finland's Marcus Gronholm has taken the lead in the Swedish Rally, with Britain's Colin McRae and Richard Burns in fourth and fifth.

After day one, Gronholm's Peugeot is 17 seconds clear of local favourite Thomas Radstrom in a Toyota with world champion Tommi Makinen three further seconds adrift.

McRae is just 24 seconds off the lead in his Ford, four seconds clear of compatriot Burns in his Subaru.

The Englishman fell behind the Scot on the final stage of the day due to a rear suspension problem on the Subaru.

McRae also had some rare good luck after failing to finish his last nine events, surviving going off on the fifth stage.

"We had a pretty big incident and we were lucky to escape," McRae said.

"The car snapped sideways as we came to a fast left bend and we bounced across the road into a ditch on the other side.

"We didn't hit anything but it was very close. We also had a poor engine at the start of the day so I'm pleased with our position."

Makinen was worried by noisy transmission in his Mitsubishi Lancer but managed to close to within 2.8 seconds of 1995-winner Radstrom.

"Things have gone better as the day went on," said the world champion.

"We were lucky not to hit anything when we went off the road on the third stage."

Gronholm overcame a problem with his Peugeot's central differential to maintain the lead he took from Radstrom on the day's second stage.

"I hit a rock on the sixth stage and thought I may get a puncture, but it was okay. I will have to watch out for both Thomas and Tommi but I want to win," said the leader.

Spain's Carlos Sainz, Swedish Rally runner-up for the past four years, holds sixth place with his Ford Focus, 29 seconds behind the rally leader.

Britain's third runner, Alister McRae ended the day in 15th place overall, three minutes behind Gronholm.

Only eight competitors were forced to retire from a 95- strong field as the flowing forest roads and deceptive corners posed little problems, despite the absence of snowbanks.

Six more stages face the drivers on the second leg as they complete 153.21 kilometres of competitive action on Saturday.

Day one positions:

1. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot one hour, six minutes and 27.2 seconds
2. Thomas Radstrom (Sweden) Toyota 15.0 seconds behind
3. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Mitsubishi 18.1 seconds
4. Colin McRae (Britain) Ford 24.3
5. Richard Burns (Britain) Subaru 28.4
6. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Ford 37.0
7. Juha Kankkunen (Finland) Subaru 42.9
8. Francois Delecour (France) Peugeot 1:07.0
9. Toni Gardemeister (Finland) SEAT 1:21.3
10. Didier Auriol (France) SEAT 2:03.4


Also: 15. Alister McRae (Britain) Hyundai 3:07.4