BP Ford number two driver, Mikko Hirvonen set the standard this morning as the Wales Rally GB, the final round of the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship, got underway.

Mikko was on it right from the off in his Focus RS WRC 07 and while conditions on the opening test were foggy in places, with visibility less than 100 metres at times, the Finn was in commanding form, 6.5 seconds up Sebastien Loeb, who was 'best of the rest'.

Hirvonen then set the pace again in SS2, the 25.08 kilometre-run through Resolfen, 4.8 seconds up on his team-mate, Marcus Gronholm, to more than double his early lead.

He continued in the same vain in SS3, taking his third stage win on the trot and headed back to service A at the SA1 Swansea Waterfront with a 21.4 second cushion.

Gronholm meanwhile, who had been behind Loeb post-SS2, managed to overhaul his championship rival for P2 in Rheola 1 and the two are now split by just one second.

Loeb however has no need to try and fight with the retiring Finn, as he only has to finish in the top five this weekend to guarantee his fourth drivers' crown in succession.

Further down the order, Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala is just seven seconds adrift. Jari was fourth fastest in both SS1 and SS2 and then managed the second best time in SS3, 1.8 seconds off the marker set by Hirvonen.

Petter Solberg is next up for Subaru, albeit 25 seconds down on P4. The Norwegian had no real issues as such, but did complain that he didn't have enough grip with his Impreza WRC.

Petter's team-mate, Chris Atkinson was seventh, with Daniel Sordo sandwiched between the two Subarus in his Citroen C4 WRC, 5.5 seconds off Petter and 17.3 seconds up on Atkinson.