Manfred Stohl rounds out the top ten in the second OMV Kronos-run Xsara. The Austrian struggled to find a good rhythm in the morning and then was slowed by brake issues on the repeat loop.
Of the rest,
Stobart Ford's
Matthew Wilson was eleventh at the end of the first day, while
BP Ford third driver, Khalid Al-Qassimi finished proceedings in 13th, one place behind
Citroen's Dani Sordo.
Sordo had been running in third until a spin in SS4 dropped him behind Gronholm. He was then forced to stop in SS6, around 8 kilometres in, due to engine problems. It is not yet known if he will be able to re-start on Saturday under the SupeRally.
Henning Solberg and Andreas Mikkelsen were the other two big retirements. Henning went out in SS5 after damaging the front right suspension on his Ford, while Andreas crashed in SS2, and also damaged the front suspension on his Ramsport-run Ford. Like with Dani, it is not yet known if either of these two will be able to re-start.
Subaru's
Chris Atkinson finished the day in 16th, having paid a big price for his error in SS2 when he went off the road. Although the Aussie was lucky and did not damage his Impreza, he beached the car and remained stranded for some time until a sufficient number of spectators arrived to help get him back on the road. He lost over 7 minutes as a result and has been playing catch up ever since.
Britain's Guy Wilks also had a tough day, after he had mechanical issues on the opening loop and he lost even more time than Atkinson. Guy finished the day more than 14 minutes off the top ten.
In the Junior Rally Championship category meanwhile, Martin Prokop has begun like he did in Finland by dominating. The Czech was quickest in every single test in his Citroen C2 S1600 and finished the day over a minute up on
Urmo Aava.
Conrad Rautenbach completes the JRC top three, another minute further back, while Aaron Burkart and regining Junior champion, Patrik Sandell are fourth and fifth respectively split by less than 5 seconds.
