Gronholm dominates leg one

The second run through the leg one loop proved extremely taxing, as the roads became increasingly rock-strewn, causing tyre problems for virtually all the drivers.

Despite this, there were few delays and no retirements among the frontrunners. The already delayed Chris Atkinson lost time with a rear puncture, but in most other cases the mousse inserts worked and allowed drivers to continue at a competitive pace.

Gronholm's dominant form saw him extend his advantage over Petter Solberg to 26.3 seconds, with Sebastien Loeb still in third place, 35.5 seconds down on the leader.

Solberg was hampered by an unusual problem this afternoon. After his Rally Italia was ruined by a double puncture, he chose to carry two spare wheels on today's repeat loop, and the extra weight upset the Subaru's balance. He managed to stay ahead of Loeb, but could not match Gronholm.

Mikko Hirvonen continues to hold fourth, edging away from Francois Duval despite being convinced that he had a rear puncture in SS6.

"It was sliding like hell on one right hand corner, but then we finished the stage and had a look and everything seems to be okay," said Hirvonen. "I don't know what happened. Really strange."

Behind the impressive Duval, an extremely close fight is raging over the lower points positions.

Toni Gardemeister led the group until he hit a rock in SS7, the subsequent steering vibrations leaving him with severe discomfort in his right hand and shoulder. Prior to the incident, he had been somewhat underwhelmed by his first experience of the ultra-successful Citroen Xsara, and admitted that overdriving and a lack of recent mileage were also hampering his efforts.

With Henning Solberg losing several seconds when he stalled in today's final stage, Manfred Stohl has now moved up to sixth place. Just 16 seconds cover the OMV Peugeots, Gardemeister, Dani Sordo, Jussi Valimaki and Xevi Pons at the end of day one.

Leaderboard after SS7:

Pos  Driver        Make              Time
 1.  Gronholm      Ford        1h 19:45.7
 2.  P Solberg     Subaru          + 26.3
 3.  Loeb          Citroen         + 35.5
 4.  Hirvonen      Ford          + 1:15.9
 5.  Duval         Skoda         + 1:29.4
 6.  Stohl         Peugeot       + 1:38.1
 7.  H Solberg     Peugeot       + 1:39.8
 8.  Gardemeister  Citroen       + 1:42.1
 9.  Sordo         Citroen       + 1:47.4
10.  Valimaki      Mitsubishi    + 1:50.5
11.  Pons          Citroen       + 1:54.1
12.  Katajamaki    Ford          + 2:32.6
13.  Kopecky       Skoda         + 3:11.6
14.  Aigner        Skoda         + 3:45.9
15.  Wilson        Ford          + 3:46.5
16.  Rovanpera     Skoda         + 3:55.0
17.  Atkinson      Subaru        + 5:08.8
18.  Pozzo         Mitsubishi    + 8:47.9
19.  Al-Attiyah    Subaru        + 9:01.5
20.  Teiskonen     Subaru        + 9:18.0