SS1 : Solberg sets the pace in Sardinia

Petter Solberg leads Rally d’Italia Sardegna after setting the pace on the opening special stage at the wheel of his Citroen DS3 WRC.

Mikko Hirvonen was second fastest in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC with PG Andersson third overall in his privateer Fiesta.

“It went quite good, a couple of small mistakes but nothing special,” said Solberg. “The car works quite good but we need to do some small adjustments later.”

But there was despair for Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala who rolled his Fiesta RS WRC and lost more than 25 seconds. Latvala, the winner in Sardinia the last time the event was part of the WRC schedule, ran wide on a right-hand corner approximately three kilometres into the stage, slid into a ditch and hit a stone wall.

“We rolled on the stage,” said the Finn. “Miikka [Anttila] made a mistake and called me the wrong note but it was the first time he has done this after many years. We can still manage to drive and won’t be losing so much.”

Hirvonen was 4.9s up on world championship leader Sebastien Loeb despite reporting that he wasn’t completely satisfied with his performance behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC. “I was still asleep, it was not such a good drive,” he said.

Loeb, meanwhile, said he had struggled running first on the road in his Citroen DS3 WRC. He was eighth fastest, one place behind Kris Meeke, who impressed in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC, which is making its competition debut in Sardinia.

“That time is for all the team and proves we’re up and running with the car,” said the Briton, who was 3.1s quicker than team-mate Dani Sordo.

Loeb said: “It was very bad, absolutely no grip at all. I was sliding everywhere and there was no grip under braking.”

Russian Evgeny Novikov was fifth fastest in his Fiesta, one place ahead of Citroen driver Sebastien Ogier.