Solberg takes early lead

The 2003 world champion took advantage of running sixth on the road while those ahead of him were forced to sweep a clean line to win the first three stages and open up a 7.7 second lead.

The 32-year-old Norwegian, who is giving Subaru's new-for-2007 Impreza WRC it's maiden outing on the event, was delighted by the time he arrived in the first service of the event.

Solberg said: "It's very, very good for the whole team that we're doing so well, but there's still a couple of areas to work on to make the car better this afternoon."

His nearest challenger is world champion Sebastien Loeb, who was in controlled form in his Citroen.

Like Loeb and Solberg, Chris Atkinson in the second Subaru finished in the top three on each of the morning stages to lie third overall, even though he too believed that set-up changes were essential before the afternoon.

Dani Sordo was an impressive fourth in the second Citroen – ahead of the Ford duo of Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen. The latter suffered a puncture and gearbox problem on stage three, which dropped him behind his team-mate.

Seven is Manfred Stohl – Kronos Citroen's only representative on the event, with Stobart Ford duo Jari-Matti Latvala and Matthew Wilson next up.

Ford privateer Gareth MacHale suffered two spins on stage one but overcame his troubles to pass his father Austin's similar machine for tenth on the third test.

But the opening loop proved disastrous for Henning Solberg's Stobart machine as he rolled five km into the first stage. Although he kept going, he dropped to the tail-end of the top 30.

The older Solberg said: "I got a rock under the car and I just rolled. The diff is not working and the gearchange too, but it's okay. Yes [I'll be out this afternoon].

Luis Perez Companc fared even worse in his Munchis Ford, breaking his suspension on the first stage and retiring.