SS2 : Solberg flies on Algarve gravel

Petter Solberg has gone fastest through the first gravel stage of Vodafone Rally de Portugal.

The 2003 world champion edged current championship leader Mikko Hirvonen by two seconds to narrow the Finn’s overnight advantage to one-tenth of a second.

“It’s a good start,” said Citroen driver Solberg. “We need to come into a rhythm because I did a couple of silly mistakes. It’s a very difficult stage and I was happy to get that time. The road is always cleaning a little bit but not massive.”

After completing his run, Hirvonen said: “I’m surprised with that time. I wasn’t driving good, not smooth at all. I’m still not familiar with the car and I was in the wrong gear at times.”

Hirvonen’s team-mate Latvala was third fastest in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC despite reporting a few mistakes midway through the stage. “I went wide in a couple of places and lost a few seconds so we need to do some changes to the pace notes.”

World champion Sebastien Loeb, who was fourth quickest, said he was impressed by Hirvonen’s speed: “Either he’s very fast or I’m very slow. I’m not fully happy with the car and I don’t have 100 per cent confidence because there is some understeer. The stage is not cleaning so much and I can’t see his lines. Mikko’s time is impressive.”

Last year’s Portugal winner Sebastien Ogier insisted he hadn’t suffered any problems after only managing the fifth fastest time in his Citroen DS3 WRC. “There’s no problem for the moment,” he said. “It’s the first stage of the rally and the rally is very long. I try to get the feeling. It’s okay, no problem.”

There was more woe for M-Sport Stobart driver Mads Ostberg. Following his collision with a concrete retaining wall on Thursday’s superspecial in Lisbon, the Norwegian stopped in the stage and reported to his team that his Fiesta RS WRC has a broken gearbox.

Team-mate Henning Solberg completed the stage with a misfire and said he was unlikely to be able to solve the glitch until midday service in Faro.

Standings after SS2: