Ford dominate morning stages

Gronholm leads the event after three stages, but Hirvonen kept his experienced teammate in check despite damaging his steering when he hit a rock in SS1.

"Mikko is doing very well," said Gronholm. "I am pushing like normal and I can't do any better."

Heavy rain overnight has made the conditions very muddy, and Gronholm believes he is benefiting from being the first car on the road.

"The conditions are not so bad when I'm first, but I think it's getting more and muddy when the other cars go through."

Manfred Stohl, who dropped to fourth behind Petter Solberg after SS3, described the road conditions as "strange slippery."

Solberg lost time at the start of the day when his car mysteriously stalled twice during SS1, but he was much happier with his car by the end of the first loop of stages.

"I made an adjustment to the settings for the last stage and I feel much more comfortable now," he said.

But while the Norwegian has clawed his way into a podium position, his chances of a fifth consecutive Rally GB win already look bleak, as Gronholm is more than half a minute ahead of the 2003 champion.

Former Production WRC rally winner Jari Matti Latvala was one of the stars of the morning, and he headed to the first service in an impressive fifth place.

The 21-year-old believes there is more performance to come though, as he continues to learn more about the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus.

"It's getting better all the time," he said. "I'm finding more confidence with the car, and I'm getting much happier."

By contrast, Chris Atkinson lost confidence in his car, but the Australian finished the morning in sixth place ahead of Dani Sordo.

Xevi Pons is next up in the second Citroen. The Spanish driver is narrowly ahead of British Rally Champion Mark Higgins, who was in the points prior to SS3.

Higgins said: "I was pushing a bit too hard and we went off somewhere. I was over driving a bit, but we'll keep going as we are, everything is going ok."

Behind Higgins, Francois Duval rounds out the top 10 in his Skoda.

Pos  Driver    Make        Time 
 1.  Gronholm  Ford        37:09.6
 2.  Hirvonen  Ford        + 19.1
 3.  Solberg   Subaru      + 34.7
 4.  Stohl     Peugeot     + 40.6
 5.  Latvala   Ford        + 1:09.6
 6.  Atkinson  Subaru      + 1:25.0
 7.  Sordo     Citroen     + 1:35.1
 8.  Pons      Citroen     + 1:35.3
 9.  Higgins   Ford        + 1:35.6
10.  Duval     Skoda       + 1:36.8