Hirvonen takes early lead in Norway

Ford driver Hirvonen hit the front in the event's first full-length stage today, but Loeb (Citroen) then won SS3 and took the lead by 0.4 seconds.

Hirvonen responded in the next two stages and has been able to establish a small lead going into the midday service.

Loeb said he was relieved to still be in touch with Hirvonen as he was running first on the snowy roads.

"At the moment it's difficult for me to do the same times as Mikko in the long stages," said Loeb. "When there's ice it's okay, but when there's a lot of snow I can feel my times getting slower.

"I expect to maybe lose a bit more time on the second pass through. But at the moment I'm keeping in contact, which is what I want."

However Hirvonen reckoned Loeb's road position was not actually much of a disadvantage.

"I would be more than happy to be first car on the road, I think it's getting worse for the cars behind," said the Finn. "There's not going to be much between us, it's going to be flat-out all the way."

Jari-Matti Latvala is third in the second works Ford, but was frustrated to complete the loop 25.7 seconds behind his teammate.

"I thought that I was driving well, but then I saw the splits," said Latvala. "I don't understand why I'm losing so much time at the moment, but maybe I'm too aggressive."

Citroen's Dani Sordo is a solitary fourth, with Petter Solberg now fifth in his self-run Citroen Xsara after briefly leading following last night's superspecial. The former world champion said he was still building up his confidence with the car.

"It's a little bit different, you have to get used to it a little bit," said Solberg. "But things have been working quite well and I'm enjoying it. You have to remember I've driven the car for two days, I just have to improve the car a bit on the slippy stages and I think we will get a lot more confidence."

Solberg's elder brother Henning currently heads a close battle for sixth in his Stobart Ford, but was unhappy to be so far adrift of the leaders having hoped for a podium in his home event.

Less than nine seconds cover Solberg, Urmo Aava (Stobart), Sebastien Ogier (Citroen Junior) and Matthew Wilson (Stobart) in sixth to ninth positions, with Suzuki refugee Per-Gunnar Andersson holding an impressive 10th in a private Skoda, just four seconds behind Wilson.

The local Adapta Subaru team have had a very disappointing start to the rally. Lead driver Mads Ostberg struggled with a misted - and sometimes icy - windscreen all morning, and lost more time in SS5 when he overshot a junction and could not get reverse gear to work. Ostberg is now 13th, while his teammate Anders Grondal spent 10 minutes off the road in the same stage.

Patrik Sandell has established an early Production class lead in the Super 2000 Red Bull Skoda, but former WRC driver Andreas Mikkelsen is only eight seconds behind in his Subaru. The chasing Patrik Flodin and Eyvind Brynildsen both went off at the same place in SS5, elevating Armindo Araujo to third in class.

Leading positions after SS5:

Pos  Driver                Car      Time
 1.  Mikko Hirvonen        Ford     37:11.5
 2.  Sebastien Loeb        Citroen  +   4.8
 3.  Jari-Matti Latvala    Ford     +  25.7
 4.  Dani Sordo            Citroen  +  40.3
 5.  Petter Solberg        Citroen  +1:00.9
 6.  Henning Solberg       Ford     +1:19.2
 7.  Urmo Aava             Ford     +1:23.2
 8.  Sebastien Ogier       Citroen  +1:24.9
 9.  Matthew Wilson        Ford     +1:28.1
10.  Per-Gunnar Andersson  Skoda    +1:32.6