Gronholm shrugs off shake-down problem

"It's quite unlucky," he sighed. "These hydraulic problems always seem to happen to me. The main aim here is for a solid points finish. But everything is possible, so why not fight for victory? Certainly, if Richard [Burns] is in a position to win, I must try hard to stop him, plus it would be nice to have my first victory on asphalt. I like this rally quite a lot - I prefer it to Catalunya - but I think tyre choice will be quite crucial."

Gronholm would normally expected to face a stern challenge from Peugeot's asphalt specialist Gilles Panizzi. However, the Frenchman is nursing a shoulder injury and is concerned about some of the rally's longer stages.

"I feel OK. I'm not sure I can be consistently fast on the long stages, but I think if everything stays as it is I'll be able to fight for victory," he said. "I've got no real pain now. I'm just going to do the best I can in this rally."

Another driver to hit trouble was Hyundai's Belgian star Freddy Loix, who's Accent suffered a turbo fire.