Citroën Total World Rally Team driver Sébastien Loeb has set the pace on the first day of Neste Oil Rally Finland, but the Frenchman has had to fight hard to keep ahead of Mikko Hirvonen (BP Ford). Loeb has won, jointly or outright, all but one of the 11 stages and has a 14.4 second advantage over the Finn after 131.70 competitive kilometres. Third position is held by Henning Solberg (Stobart Ford).

Rally Finland is one of the most specialised events on the calendar. High speeds on smooth flowing gravel roads are combined with spectacular jumps, which often hide bends over the crests. Precision driving and bravery are required and it is little wonder only six non-Finns have won the rally in 57 years. 

Loeb won last night’s super special stage and as the high-speed action moved into the forests during a damp opening day, the Frenchman continued to hold the upper hand. He and Hirvonen have been neck and neck and rarely split by more than 10 seconds, but the Finn is seemingly unable to find the extra speed needed to overhaul his greatest Championship rival.

 Dani Sordo (Citroën Total) ran as high as third and has been in the thick of a battle to maintain position. A host of other drivers had been challenging the Spaniard and he ultimately lost out to Gigi Galli (Stobart Ford), who in turn also lost his advantage to team-mate Henning Solberg in the penultimate stage. There is however only 3.1 seconds separating the two, and fifth-placed Sordo is only a further 9.2 seconds adrift. Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson (Subaru), and Suzuki’s Per-Gunnar Andersson all moved up the order this afternoon following the retirement of Estonian Urmo Aava. The Citroën C4 driver went off the road in stage nine after a fine drive that saw him also run as high as third overall.

The leading retirement of the day was Jari-Matti Latvala (BP Ford), the Finn crashing out of the event on stage three. He damaged the front right steering arm on a rock and then landed in a ditch after the following jump.

Rally Finland - Results after Day 1

1 Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 04 min 57.9sec
2 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 05 min 12.3sec
3 Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 05 min 51.0sec
4 Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 05 min 54.1sec
5 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 06 min 03.3sec
6 Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 1 hr 06 min 35.7sec
7 Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC 1 hr 06 min 39.0sec
8 Per-G Andersson/Jonas Andersson Suzuki SX4 WRC 1 hr 07 min 18.3sec