Gronholm and Loeb neck and neck

Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb were separated by just 5.8 seconds after an exhilarating opening day of Rally Finland.

The home favourite and winner of four of the past five events in his homeland, Gronholm was the man with the edge after nine stages.

But Loeb, who has won the past six rallies this season to establish a formidable lead in the drivers’ standings, was hot in pursuit.

The pair could hardly be split on any of today’s eight stages – the event having begun last night with the ‘shakedown’. Gronholm won five and Loeb two, but rarely was either man considerably slower than the other.

World champion Loeb, in the Citroen, stole ahead by taking the day’s first stage, but then Gronholm, for Peugeot, reeled off three in succession.

His lead did not exceed 8.3 seconds, and the manner of their competition suggested the weekend’s driving should be captivating for the Finnish audience.

Estonian Markko Martin (Peugeot) held third place, with Gronholm’s fellow Finn Toni Gardemeister (Ford) fourth and Norwegian Petter Solberg (Subaru) fifth.

Solberg was the only driver other than the front two to win a stage today, claiming the sixth to add to his victory in the shakedown.

Gronholm, a two-time world champion, has not won a world rally since his victory in Finland in 2004, although things did look up last time out in Argentina when finishing second behind Loeb, leaving him just three points behind second-placed Solberg in the championship standings.

“It’s been a very good day for us,” said Gronholm on www.rally-live.com.

“But the last few stages were difficult because I was thinking about Timo’s back all the time, so I was definitely backing off over some of the more violent crests.

“The car and the tyres have been perfect all day and it’s a nice feeling to fight for the lead again.

“I’ve always had a very good feeling for these stages and it’s fun to drive them. But we are in the middle of a very tight battle and we have to keep pushing, so it’s always more fun when you have done the stages and you can look back on them!”

Darlington driver Guy Wilks took to the wheel of the new Suzuki Swift car and stood 34th overall and sixth in the junior world championship standings.

The 24-year-old is second in the junior drivers’ standings, ahead of Ulsterman Kris Meeke but behind team-mate Per-Gunnar Andersson, with the Suzuki pair having yet to drop a round of the series.

Of his new car, Wilks said: The steering is very vague. We looked under the car and found the rose joint in the front suspension was pushed through and was not making a connection.

“It was easy after we found that. It’s been a hell of a day but we enjoyed it.”