Team-mate Dani Sordo ensured this weekend is likely to be a Ford versus
Citroen affair by emerging in fourth best, just 11secs behind the leaders and 23secs up on the remainder of the field.
The ‘remainder' is currently led by
Chris Atkinson who, save for a tardy second stage, has been trading times with the leaders in the new
Subaru Impreza.
Petter Solberg, on the other hand, was in a very despondent mood as he trundles around the bottom end of the top ten, the former champion well down the order in tenth after suffering from unspecified problems.
“Yeah, it's not so good,” the Norwegian said. “I haven't been able to do anything. I tried to do the best time but I can't do more than this.”
Francois Duval enjoyed a strong morning with the
Stobart Focus in sixth place, just 45secs off the ultimate pace as he embarks on his first gravel rally since 2006 in place of the injured
Gigi Galli. However, he is set to embark on a battle with
Urmo Aava in the privateer PH-Sport Citroen C4, the Estonian driver just eight seconds adrift of the in form Belgian after a strong time through SS3.
Meanwhile, perhaps the biggest surprise of the morning came from
Suzuki's Per-Gunnar Andersson who moved up to eighth overall after producing the fifth best time in SS3. Despite complaining of a lack of rhythm, he is just four seconds off Hirvonen's stage winning effort. That was enough to place him ahead of
Matthew Wilson in ninth, the Brit nonetheless comfortably inside the top ten throughout the day.
Elsewhere,
Toni Gardemeister is playing catch up after a puncture on SS1 lost him over a minute, although the Finn has been setting top ten stage times since then and has climbed up to 12th place, just behind Munchi's
Federico Villagra.
Villagra's team-mate,
Henning Solberg, however is all but out of the rally after developing power steering problems almost straight after leaving the gate on SS1. Suffering for the next three stages, Solberg is already seven and a half minutes adrift of the leaders.
