 Neste Rally Finland
Neste Rally Finland Stage 1:
Subaru World Rally Team's Chris Atkinson has taken the early lead at Neste Oil Rally Finland, posting a time of one minute 20.6 seconds on the short Killeri superspecial stage.
The stage win may be a great moral victory for the Australian, but it's a small actual advantage as he only has 0.2 seconds up on his nearest rival.
The premier pairing of Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb lived up to its hype with Gronholm barely edging his championship rival by a tenth of a second, and finishing second behind Atkinson.
Further down the order, Citroen's Dani Sordo finished fourth, a further 0.3 seconds behind Loeb and was followed closely by Subaru's Petter Solberg in the Impreza, another 0.1 seconds behind.
This means that heading into the first day of full stages; the top five are only separated by 0.7 seconds total.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team's Jari-Matti Latvala finished sixth, 1.1 seconds off the pace but ahead of fellow Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen in seventh.
OMV Kronos Citroen driver Manfred Stohl rounded out the top eight almost a full two seconds behind the stage leader.
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