Hirvonen leads at end of day one

The short Obihiro stages saw a change for second place, as Sebastien Loeb moved his Citroen ahead of Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, who had led the rally on the opening loop, by three seconds

Loeb is on course to take the points lead if he finishes fourth or higher in Japan after his title rival Marcus Gronholm crashed in SS4 and damaged his Ford's rollcage, putting him out of the event. Should Loeb overcome Hirvonen for the rally win, he will head to the penultimate round in Ireland six points clear of Gronholm.

Citroen's Dani Sordo remains ahead of Henning Solberg's Stobart Ford in the close battle for fourth. They are now 40 seconds behind the leaders but just 7.8 seconds apart. Sordo has edged away a little towards the end of the afternoon.

Manfred Stohl (OMV Kronos Citroen), Xevi Pons (Subaru) and Luis Perez Companc (Munchi's Ford) complete the top eight after 10 of the rally's 27 stages. Although the trio have already become spread out, Pons is optimistic of making progress tomorrow after set-up changes at the midday service increased his confidence in the Impreza.

Leading positions after leg one:

Pos  Driver         Car      Time
 1.  Hirvonen       Ford     1h00:30.8
 2.  Loeb           Citroen   +   10.3
 3.  Latvala        Ford      +   13.7
 4.  Sordo          Citroen   +   40.6
 5.  H Solberg      Ford      +   48.4
 6.  Stohl          Citroen   + 1:30.0
 7.  Pons           Subaru    + 2:02.6
 8.  Perez Companc  Ford      + 2:20.8
 9.  Wilson         Ford      + 2:50.8
10.  Villagra       Ford      + 3:26.4