Hyundai's Thierry Neuville was fastest on the opening stage of Rally Sweden, 0.8 seconds ahead of the Citroen of Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier.
Neuville, who won Rally Sweden last season, and Ogier set the fastest times around the Karlstad superspecial stage, following on from the Belgian also achieving the quickest time in shakedown earlier in the day.
Andreas Mikkelsen in the sister Hyundai set the third fastest time, ahead of the leading Toyota driver Ott Tanak.
Jari-Matti Latvala [Toyota Gazoo Racing] was fifth quickest on the opening stage of his 197th World Rally Championship event, which makes him the most experienced driver in history.
Fellow Finn Teemu Suninen [M-Sport] put in the sixth fastest time on the crowd-pleasing stage, with the Citroen of Esapekka Lappi setting a marginally slower time to achieve seventh.
Returning double world champion Marcus Gronholm, making a one-off appearance in a Toyota, beat the Hyundai of Sebastien Loeb in the pair’s first head-to-head battle in their first WRC appearance together since 2010.
Gronholm is taking part in the event as a belated 50th birthday present to himself and went almost two seconds quicker than nine-time champion Loeb despite almost stalling at the start and losing some front aero from clipping a rut.
WRC2 Pro driver Eerik Pietarinen set the ninth fastest time, with Kris Meeke rounding out the top 10 for Toyota.
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