SS1: Gronholm shows he means business

Peugeot's Finnish star zipped through the snow covered 20.74km stage in 11m05.3s, opening up a 3.9 second gap over Subaru's Richard Burns. Colin McRae was third quickest in his Ford Focus, 4.6secs slower than Gronholm.

The overnight snow mitigated against those who did well on last month's Monte Carlo Rally, as the finishing order decided the running sequence of Leg One, and likes of Tommi Makinen and Carlos Sainz acted as snow ploughs for those who followed.

First-on-the-road Makinen's Mitsubishi Lancer wound up a lowly 13th, losing almost 20secs, while Sainz (Ford Focus) was seventh, just 8secs slower than Gronholm.

Those who benefited from cleaner roads were Thomas Radstrom, who was fourth quickest on his first outing for the works Ralliart Mitsubishi squad. He just pipped Estonian ace Markko Martin by 0.2secs in his Prodrive-run Subaru.

Bronchitis-bound Didier Auriol was eighth in his works Peugeot, while Francois Delecour ran over a huge rock that had been thrown into the road by an earlier car, but the Frenchman said over the radio that he believed no serious damage was inflicted.

The real loser of the works drivers was Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix who, after his confidence-boosting sixth on the Monte, spun on the opening stage. He was forced to make an umpteen-point-turn, and lost 1m18s. Doh!


Marcus Gronholm (FIN)/Timo Rautiainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC*, 11m05.3s
Richard Burns (GB)/Robert Reid(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC*, 11m09.2s
Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 11m09.9s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, 11m10.9s
Markko Martin(EST)/Michael Park(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC, 11m11.1s
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 11m11.2s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 11m13.4s
Didier Auriol(F)/Denis Giraudet(F), Peugeot 206 WRC*, 11m21.0s
Bruno Thiry (B)/Stephane Prevot(B), Skoda Octavia WRC*, 11m21.7s
Toni Gardemeister (FIN)/ Paavo Lukander (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 11m21.8s

*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points