Hirvonen to back off on day two

The Ford driver is nearly 40 seconds ahead of Marcus Gronholm after six of the event's 17 stages, but he admitted that he will not push as hard on Saturday for two reasons.

Several drivers counted themselves lucky to simply finish the final stage on Friday, as rain and fog caused havoc for several drivers.

"It was definitely not boring," Hirvonen told autosport.com. "You could hardly see. Now I think I have to drive for the conditions.

"Also, I crashed out of this event on the first day last year, so I don't know tomorrow's stages so well. It's good that I have this gap now."

The Finn added that he had taken more risks in the tricky conditions because he has nothing to lose this weekend.

"You have to trust your pacenotes in these conditions, and maybe I trusted mine more than Marcus and Sebastien (Loeb)," he said.

"But they cannot afford to go off the road because of the championship. My third place is settled, so I can push more. I don't have any pressure."