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CUPRA · 04-08-2007 , 00:41:24

Neste Rally Finland Leg 1

With the first day of action drawing to a close, Marcus Gronholm sits on top of the overall standings after a long run of stage wins. Despite the apparent domination, he leads the rally by a mere 4.4 seconds over fellow BP-Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen.The two have traded fastest times over the course of the day and have even tied on one stage only to be separated by four seconds at the close of eleven stages and over 125 km of racing.
Behind the fascinating Ford duel Sebastien Loeb has driven a flat out race to simply keep touch. Collecting a string of thirds equal to Gronholm's firsts, and losing a few seconds each stage while at it, Loeb has positioned himself firmly in the third place position. Making a strike on day two is not out of the question for the reigning world rally champion, but if tomorrow's rounds begin to go like today's, don't be surprised if the Citroen driver makes sure to stay on the podium by late afternoon.

Subaru World Rally Team started off with mixed fortunes on the day. On one hand Chris Atkinson started the day in the lead and had a strong showing on the morning stages to stay in fourth and within reasonable distance of the top three. Petter Solberg, on the other hand, was fighting the car from the start of stage two, becoming more upset with its handling at the end of each test. The first service of the leg turned it around for the Norwegian and he began posting times in line with his Australian team-mate. A spin by Atkinson put Solberg as close as five seconds away from catching his brother in blue, but Atkinson pulled out a great time on the penultimate stage, reestablishing his lead over the former world rally champion. Solberg now sits in fifth, 10.4 seconds behind Atkinson.

Sandwiching the Subarus was the other Citroen of Dani Sordo.The Spanish C4 driver has committed himself to making it through the event while earning the maximum points for the team. He was engaged in a battle with Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team driver Henning Solberg for the sixth overall position, but some strong finishes on the late afternoon stages moved him back into position with a bit of a cushion to spare.

Henning Solberg started the day off slow, but really began to charge during the middle section of stages. Solberg stormed up the leaderboard to as high as sixth, but finished the final long stint eight seconds behind in seventh. With the more familiar stages coming up tomorrow it should be easy for Solberg to regain most of that time back and possibly make a push against his brother for a higher position.

Rounding out the top eight, Manfred Stohl has consistently placed himself in the top eight all day, taking his biggest chunks of time on the longer stages of the leg. The OMV Kronos Citroen driver will also be looking to tomorrow as he is only thirteen seconds away from seventh and twenty-three seconds away from sixth. With two passes through the long Ouninpohja stage on Saturday, the gaps between the drivers won't seem large enough, as stalls, spins and maybe another roll or two might take their toll on the final outcome