Solberg still ahead after leg one

After the opening loop of stages it seemed like Solberg was already on course for the victory that he so desperately needs after failing to score in the opening two rallies of 2006.

The Subaru driver was slightly flattered by a favourable road position - the championship leaders were left to sweep the dust away for those running further down the order - but his lunchtime advantage of 10 seconds over Mikko Hirvonen and 30 seconds over Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb still appeared to be a comfortable margin.

Then the warmer temperatures of the afternoon stages threw a spanner in the works. All the cars suffered from tyre wear issues, but the Pirelli shod Subarus were particularly hamstrung. Solberg was left struggling for grip in stages five and six, and lost more time with a small error on the latter. This allowed Hirvonen to close to within 4.8 seconds, while Loeb was quickest in both Guanajuato 2 and El Cubliente 2 and slashed the gap to Solberg from 34.3 seconds to 9.5 seconds.

It probably would have become a four way fight had Gronholm not put himself out of contention by sliding into a ditch on SS4. Despite the best efforts of Gronholm, his co-driver Timo Rautiainen and the sole spectator in the vicinity, the Ford Focus could go no further.

"There were only three of us to push the car back, but it wasn't going anywhere," Gronholm told autosport.com. "It was bogged down in the ditch. It's very, very disappointing."

Although the championship leader should be able to rejoin under SupeRally regulations, he will be over 20 minutes behind the frontrunners and must rely on a spectacular rate of attrition if he is to add to his score.

However, if drivers continue to fall by the wayside at the same rate on legs two and three, then Gronholm may still find himself back in the points. Hirvonen felt he was lucky to reach today's final service halt after his front right damper broke on SS5. Despite this handicap, the Ford driver was still second quickest through both this stage and the following test.

Chris Atkinson was less fortunate. He was running fourth before striking a rock and rolling in SS5. Although he plans to rejoin the action tomorrow, his pre-rally aim of a steady top five finish now looks out of reach.

Also in trouble on the opening day were Xavier Pons, whose Kronos Citroen succumbed to engine failure as early as SS2, and Henning Solberg, who lost over three minutes when he had to stop and change a puncture in the chaotic SS5. The OMV Peugeot driver was also plagued by brake problems throughout the day.

Manfred Stohl had a comparatively serene run to fourth, ending the day on a high by going fastest on the Nextel Superspecial, but the Austrian was still frustrated by his inability to find the right set-up for his OMV Peugeot. He plans to use leg two as a test, although he will have to keep his pace up to fend off Daniel Sordo, who is just 15 seconds behind in fifth place on his Mexican debut. Both Stohl and Sordo managed to escape spins during the Friday stages.

The attrition amongst the usual frontrunners has allowed two young graduates from the British and Irish rallying scene to run in the WRC top eight for the first time. Matthew Wilson and Gareth MacHale will start leg two in sixth and seventh respectively after highly promising performances so far. Given the events elsewhere in the field, both Wilson and MacHale could be in for big points hauls if they can make it to the finish on Sunday afternoon.

Top 10 after SS7:

Pos Driver     Make     Time
 1.  P Solberg  Subaru   1h 27:48.8
 2.  Hirvonen   Ford     + 4.8
 3.  Loeb       Citroen  + 9.5
 4.  Stohl      Peugeot  + 1:45.9
 5.  Sordo      Citroen  + 2:01.3
 6.  Wilson     Ford     + 2:56.2
 7.  MacHale    Ford     + 5:37.3
 =   H Solberg  Peugeot  + 5:37.3
 9.  Arai       Subaru   + 7:22.8
10.  Trivino    Peugeot  + 8:26.4