Day 1am: Rovanpera leads

Gronholm's Peugeot team-mate Harri Rovanpera took the lead of the event after setting fastest times on both SS2 and SS4. He is 7.8s ahead of Hyundai driver Armin Schwarz, who has used his favourable road position to great effect.

Solberg's retirement will come as a bitter blow, as he was leading the event at the time, having tied Rovanpera's SS2 time and set the outright fastest time on SS3. However, the Norwegian's suspension broke 3km into the event's fourth stage, although it's not yet clear whether this was caused by component failure or contact.

Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Loeb suffered the most bizarre retirement of the day. Having completed the third stage, the Frenchman ran out of fuel after getting lost on the road section on his way to SS4, where his car was due to be refuelled!

Some consolation for the Citroen team will come from Carlos Sainz, who sits in third overall, just 12.6s back of Rovanpera. Subaru driver Tommi Makinen lies in fourth, ahead of young Ford driver Francois Duval and Peugeot's asphalt ace Gilles Panizzi.

Colin McRae lies in seventh position, with fellow Briton Richard Burns eighth.