Hirvonen out !

Mikko Hirvonen has stopped on Friday’s opening stage with a broken front suspension.

The Finn was fifth on the road this morning but made a mistake and was unable to complete the ‘Suwayma’ stage – also known as the Dead Sea stage.

This is a complete disaster for Ford’s leader who aimed to bounce back from a disappointing Rally in Mexico. He could be back in action tomorrow to try to score some manufacturers’ points but will definitely lose ground to Sébastien Loeb in the drivers’ standings.

The Citroën driver was fastest on SS8 ahead of Petter Solberg and Sébastien Ogier. Kimi Raikkonen set an encouraging sixth fastest time on this stage.

First on the road today, Jari-Matti Latvala was 3.3s slower than Loeb but still leads Jordan Rally by a comfortable margin. Loeb trails him by 28.5 seconds. Ogier is third with Solberg hot on his heels.