Top privateer once again was
Urmo Aava, the Estonian driver claiming a couple of top five stage times to hold a good sixth place overall at the end of the day in his PH-Sport
Citroen C4. Aava had briefly took the fight to Duval, but eventually dropped back to the point where
Petter Solberg is now in striking distance, 24secs adrift.
Solberg experienced a considerably better afternoon after a terrible morning that left him down in tenth place. Even so, while the Norwegian is now Subaru’s only contender left in the rally, he is yet to match the early pace of team-mate Atkinson.
While it is perhaps a reflection of how difficult Suzuki’s first full season in the WRC has been to say that it was a surprise to see both cars comfortably inside the top ten, Per-Gunnar Andersson’s eighth and Toni Gardemeister’s ninth still represented a very positive story to come out of day one.
Andersson was the Japanese manufacturer’s star turn as he showed what he is capable of with a car not hamstrung by mechanical problems. A pair of top five stage times duly rewarded him with a spot inside the points.
Gardemeister, meanwhile, sits just behind Andersson in ninth, although he would probably be further up the order had he not suffered a puncture on the first stage.
Federico Villagra rounds out the top ten in his Munchi’s Focus, while
Conrad Rautenbach is classified as the last of the WRC runners not to suffer problems in 11th.
Of the other three, beyond Atkinson, Ford drivers
Henning Solberg and
Matthew Wilson suffered at the whim of technical woes, leaving both playing a catch-up game.
Solberg went three stages with power steering issues to lose seven and a half minutes, while a further one minute penalty for leaving the service park late added insult to injury. The Norwegian, driving for Munchi’s this weekend, began setting top ten times towards the end of the day but he is well down in 28th place overall.
