Hirvonen grabs early lead in Greece

The Finn was just two tenths of a second faster than teammate Marcus Gronholm, but the top five runners were covered by half a second after the short three-kilometre stage.

Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb was third fastest, and the Frenchman was just one tenth slower than his title rival.

Petter Solberg and Dani Sordo completed the top five, and the pair were more than one second faster than the Ford of Henning Solberg, who was up against his brother and was sixth fastest.

Chris Atkinson was seventh fastest in his Subaru, while Jari-Matti Latvala is currently in the final points-paying position.

There is already a gap of two seconds between the top eight and the rest though, as Federico Villagra and Manfred Stohl complete the top 10.

Pos  Driver      Make           Time
 1.  Hirvonen    Ford           2:50.8
 2.  Gronholm    Ford           + 00.2
 3.  Loeb        Citroen        + 00.3
 4.  Solberg     Subaru         + 00.4
 5.  Sordo       Citroen        + 00.5
 6.  Solberg     Ford           + 01.8
 7.  Atkinson    Subaru         + 02.3
 8.  Latvala     Ford           + 02.5
 9.  Villagra    Ford           + 04.5
10.  Stohl       Citroen        + 05.7