Gronholm finishes first day on top

While the Finn is eight seconds ahead of Petter Solberg in second place, Dani Sordo in sixth is less than three seconds behind the Subaru driver.

Solberg is closely followed by his teammate Chris Atkinson, as the Subaru team enjoyed a very strong first day.

While the results of the first day of a rally on loose surfaces are often affected by the fact that the lead drivers clean the road for those behind, many drivers are expecting the Subarus to maintain their pace, as there wasn't much gravel on the roads.

Sebastien Loeb recovered from a difficult morning to halve his gap to the lead to nine seconds, but the Frenchman was disappointed that a poor set-up choice cost him so dearly in the morning.

Loeb claimed that he had driven flat out all day after he won the final stage on Friday, and he admitted that he simply didn't have the speed to match Gronholm at the moment.

"I am taking a lot of risks to be that fast but Marcus is faster," said Loeb before the final stage. "Although I changed the set-up in the service, this was not enough.

"It was a stage was full of rocks. It was really rough," added the Frenchman after the final stage of the day. "I am happy that I was faster than Marcus."

Mikko Hirvonen had understeer problems throughout the day, but he battled on to be just 10 seconds behind Gronholm in fifth, while Sordo was in high spirits after being fastest through SS7.

Henning Solberg and Jari-Matti Latvala are just a few seconds apart in their battle for seventh place, but they are more than half a minute behind the leading six cars.

The pair are safely in the points though, as Manfred Stohl is one minute adrift of their battle, while Jan Kopecky completes the top 10.

Pos  Driver      Make        Time
 1.  Gronholm    Ford        1:19:16.0
 2.  Solberg     Subaru      + 08.3
 3.  Atkinson    Subaru      + 09.0
 4.  Loeb        Citroen     + 09.7
 5.  Hirvonen    Ford        + 10.3
 6.  Sordo       Citroen     + 10.7
 7.  Solberg     Ford        + 45.2
 8.  Latvala     Ford        + 48.3
 9.  Stohl       Citroen     + 1:45.9
10.  Kopecky     Skoda       + 2:36.6