Gronholm leads Rally Greece

World Rally Championship leader Marcus Gronholm grabbed Rally Greece by the scruff of the neck to head the pack at the end of day one on Friday.

The Finn, who won the rally last year, surged into the lead after a morning dominated by the Subaru pair of Chris Atkinson and 2003 world champion Petter Solberg.

Gronholm was four seconds off the lead in third place at the start of the afternoon loop of three stages, but showed his class in charging into an 8.3-second lead by the close of play.

To add to Gronholm’s pleasure, world champion and title rival Sebastien Loeb has struggled throughout and found himself down in an unaccustomed fourth place, albeit after an improved showing in the afternoon.

Australia’s Atkinson had been leading early on, but slipped to third, nine seconds off the lead, by the end of the day, although Norwegian Solberg did well to hang on to Gronholm’s pace.

Behind the race leader, though, it is extremely tight down to sixth place, with the gap separating five cars a mere 2.4 seconds.

Gronholm’s team-mate and compatriot Mikko Hirvonen suffered understeer problems and was 10.3 seconds adrift in fifth, while Loeb’s Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo, of Spain, wound up 10.7 seconds behind in sixth.

Frenchman Loeb found the going tough in the morning and Gronholm’s pace too hot to begin with, although he was more happy with how he went after lunch by winning the final stage.

“It was a stage full of rocks. It was really rough,” said Loeb, whose crash last time out in Italy left him seven points behind Gronholm in the standings.

“I am happy that I was faster than Marcus.”

The final two points-paying positions are currently held by Norway’s Henning Solberg and Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, although both are more than 45 seconds off the lead in their Fords.