Further down the order,
Petter Solberg is sixth in the new Impreza WRC2008, albeit almost 50 seconds off those battling for the win. The Norwegian set top-nine times in every test, his best - excluding the short Antalya super special - a fifth fastest effort in SS7.
"Sixth is good today, and I'm happy with our progress," said the
Subaru #1. "We were just trying to take it a little bit carefully today, but it was so, so tough, you know. I know things can happen here, and I don't want to hit rocks or have any problems. We just need to take things step by step."
Britain's
Matthew Wilson was next up in seventh and he had a great day in the third
Stobart Ford entry, running in the points pretty much throughout despite a big impact in SS7, which bent the suspension.
"They have been really tough stages today and I have been feeling quite tired with my cold," said Matt. "But we still managed to finish off the day with a third placed time which is a great way to finish what has been an improved day of driving. I’m very happy with our start today."
Dani Sordo had to settle for eighth after losing around a minute in Kumluca 2, when he had a rear left puncture and picked up some suspension damage. The Spaniard fought back in SS8 and SS9 though and cut the gap to Wilson from 6.5 seconds to 0.9 seconds.
Of the rest
Suzuki's
Toni Gardemeister is ninth, despite injuring his shoulder in the middle loop, with
Conrad Rautenbach tenth followed by Munchi's Ford's
Federico Villagra, Per-Gunnar Andersson and Barry Clark.
"About five kilometres from the end of the stage [SS6] I was turning in a right-hand hairpin. I hit a rock and the steering wheel was ripped out of my hand; the impact dislocated my left shoulder," Gardemeister explained.
"The pain was incredible. The shoulder went back in after a couple of seconds. The doctor worked on my shoulder in service and it wasn't so bad in the last two stages. It was really good to come through the last stage with a good time."
