Gronholm takes early lead in Oz

Gronholm came out on top as he went head to head with Petter Solberg, but both fell victim to the deep ruts that were forming on one of the bends.

The Finn's Ford jumped up in the air dramatically as he clouted the ruts, and popped one of his tyres off the rim. However, with the stage being so short, the tyre held pressure to the end.

"It was ok tonight, but the ruts are quite bad already," said Gronholm. "We'll be ok on the proper stages tomorrow, but I hope they fix this before we run tomorrow night."

Solberg lost time due to the ruts during the first run through the stage, and is third behind the two Fords, but the 2003 champion was very happy.

"I lost all of my time on one corner where the car just jumped out of the ruts," he said. "It's going to be very interesting tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to this rally, my car is much better than it has been for a long time."

Manfred Stohl was fourth fastest after the two runs, but also had a tyre knocked off the rim by the ruts. He still beat Xevi Pons in their head to head though, and the other Citroen of Dani Sordo in fifth splits the pair.

Chris Atkinson made a low-key start to his home event and is ninth fastest, behind Henning Solberg's Peugeot.

A launch control problem cost Matt Wilson in his battle with teammate Luis Perez Companc, but the Brit is 10th, while Companc ended the day in sixth.

With only 10 WRC cars competing in the event this weekend, reliability will be crucial, as a finish should guarantee any driver some points.

Pos  Driver     Make     Time
 1.  Gronholm   Ford     2:41.8
 2.  Hirvonen   Ford     2:43.7 + 01.9
 3.  Solberg    Subaru   2:43.9 + 02.1
 4.  Stohl      Peugeot  2:44.3 + 02.5
 5.  Sordo      Citroen  2:45.1 + 03.3
 6.  P.Companc  Ford     2:45.9 + 04.1
 7.  Pons       Citroen  2:46.2 + 04.4
 8.  Solberg    Peugeot  2:46.3 + 04.5
 9.  Atkinson   Subaru   2:46.4 + 04.6
10.  Wilson     Ford     2:48.3 + 06.5