Gronholm ahead after opening stage of Rally Ireland

Marcus Gronholm has the overnight lead after the opening stage of Rally Ireland in Stormont last night.

The Finn was fastest in the super special stage in his Ford Focus, beating championship rival Sebastien Loeb by just 0.9 seconds.

Dungannon's Kris Meeke clocked the third-fastest time and is just one second behind Gronholm ahead of the first full stage this morning.

There are 20 stages in all before the rally finishes on Sunday.