Rallye de France – Hirvonen retires for Leg 1
A magnificent firework display in Ajaccio's harbour lit up the sky to close last night's start ceremony for this 13th round of the FIA World Rally Championship but signal the beginning of three days' fierce action on the twisty mountain roads of Corsica. Another gloriously sunny morning greeted the 74 starters as they left the town's port this morning for the opening loop of three speed tests to the south-east.
However, the opening 18.10km test from Monti Rossu to Pila Canale was cancelled due to spectator congestion at the Col de Bellevalle. So the competition started on the 16.62km Belvedere - Bocca Albitrina and BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen were quickly into their stride with fastest time in their Focus RS World Rally Car.
The 39-year-old Finnish driver was also quickest through the 27.42km Arbellara - Aullene to return to service in Ajaccio with a 2.9sec lead over Dani Sordo, and another 1.2sec in hand over title rival Sébastien Loeb.
"It was a great start and all I can do is keep trying hard like this and hope Loeb and Sordo cannot find any more speed," said Grönholm. "The dry weather made tyre choice easy and the road conditions were consistent, which is something we didn't have a week ago in Spain. Some sections were really bumpy on the old asphalt but others are smooth. There are a lot of sections which are new to us so my pace notes aren't perfect but that's the same for everyone. Temperatures are rising all the time so we'll look at taking a harder compound tyre this afternoon."
Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were fourth in the opening special stage but the Finns crashed out in Arbellara - Aullene. Hirvonen said that his pace notes were too fast for a corner midway through the test. He entered the bend too quickly and the Focus RS ran wide before hitting a stone. The impact ripped off the rear right wheel and broke the suspension, forcing the BP-Ford duo into retirement from today's leg.
Competitors repeat the same loop of stages this afternoon before returning to Ajaccio for the first overnight halt.
Leaderboard after stage 3 of 16
1. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Ford Focus RS 24min 49.4sec
2. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4 24min 52.3sec
3. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4 24min 53.5sec
4. F Duval/P Pivato B Citroen Xsara 25min 16.3sec
5. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza 25min 17.1sec
6. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 25min 18.9sec
7. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 25min 22.8sec
8. X Pons/X Amigo E Subaru Impreza 25min 38.3sec
9. J Kopecky/F Schovanek CZ Skoda Fabia 26min 03.2sec
10 A Bettega/S Scattolin I Ford Focus RS 26min 05.0sec