Latvala takes early lead in Italy

With the loose gravel surface favouring those further down the running order, Latvala was able to upstage the title contenders and win the opening stage by 6.7 seconds over his mentor Gronholm.

His achievement marked the first time that a Stobart Ford driver had ever led a World Rally Championship round.

Works Ford driver Gronholm closed the gap to 3.9 seconds in SS2 and then gained another 2.4 seconds on the leader in SS3. But Latvala remained competitive, setting the third quickest time through Monte Olia 1 and ensuring that he would take a 1.5-second lead into the lunchtime service.

Petter Solberg currently holds third for Subaru, 6.8 seconds behind Latvala.

His older brother Henning Solberg completed a superb morning for Stobart Ford by winning Monte Olia 1 (SS3) and moving up to fourth overall, 2.7 seconds behind the third-placed Subaru, and 0.9 seconds ahead of Sebastien Loeb.

The world champion, who is first on the road today, was only fifth in SS1, having dropped 12.4 seconds to Latvala. He halved the gap and advanced to third by winning SS2, only to lose more ground in SS3 and fall back behind both Solberg siblings.

After being third quickest in SS1, Chris Atkinson has now fallen to sixth, 1.6 seconds ahead of Mikko Hirvonen. Dani Sordo completes the current top eight.

Pos Driver        Make         Time     
 1. Latvala       Ford         51:45.8
 2. Gronholm      Ford         51:47.3 + 01.5
 3. Solberg       Subaru       51:52.6 + 06.8
 4. Solberg       Ford         51:55.3 + 09.5
 5. Loeb          Citroen      51:56.2 + 10.4
 6. Atkinson      Subaru       52:05.8 + 20.0
 7. Hirvonen      Ford         52:07.4 + 21.6
 8. Sordo         Citroen      52:36.5 + 50.7
 9. Hanninen      Mitsubishi   53:01.7 + 1:15.9
10. Ostberg       Subaru       53:36.2 + 1:50.4