A promising start to Day 1 of Rally Portugal saw Petter and Chris set the fastest time through SS2, two seconds faster than Mikko Hirvonen who held the overall lead following the opening street stage of the previous afternoon.

A front right puncture caused over a minute to be lost in the next stage but Petter and Chris were second fastest on the last stage of the morning. Another puncture followed, this time rear right, in SS5 and unbelievably, the last stage brought two more punctures and retirement before the end as there was only one spare remaining. The team will start again tomorrow under supeRally regulations with a 10 minute penalty.

-I just don't believe it, how is it possible to pick up four punctures in one day, says Petter Solberg. -There are two more days to go and we have shown that we have the speed so I will push hard.