Petter Solberg (Subaru) bounced back from his huge accident in Germany two weeks ago to lead the opening leg from start to finish.  The Norwegian was fastest on three of the morning's four stages to open a 20 second lead.  Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) and Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) had a huge fight for second, swapping places after each of the first five stages.  But three fastest times enabled the championship leader to edge out the Finn and close on Solberg. 

Carlos Sainz (Citroen) struggled with tyre wear problems after altering the set-up of his car this morning and, although he briefly moved ahead of Märtin this afternoon, he could not stay there.  Mikko Hirvonen (Subaru) filled his car's radiator with mud during a first stage spin which sent the engine temperature up to 130°C but he was untroubled in seventh for the rest of the day.  The only top driver to hit trouble was Harri Rovanperä (Peugeot).  The Finn lost fourth gear in the first few kilometres of the opening stage and had to wait another three stages for a new gearbox to be fitted.  But exactly the same happened again after a few kilometres of the fifth stage and he dropped nearly two minutes.

Top 10 Leaderboard after Leg 11.  P Solberg/P Mills           N       Subaru Impreza  1hr 30min 35.1sec 2.  S Loeb/D Elena              F       Citroen Xsara   1hr 30min 47.8sec 3.  M Grönholm/T Rautiainen     FIN     Peugeot 307     1hr 30min 52.9sec 4.  M Märtin/M Park             EE      Ford Focus RS   1hr 31min 36.8sec 5.  C Sainz/M Marti             E       Citroen Xsara   1hr 31min 41.9sec 6.  F Duval/P Droeven           B       Ford Focus RS   1hr 32min 00.8sec 7.  M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen       FIN     Subaru Impreza  1hr 32min 29.1sec 8.  H Rovanperä/R Pietilainen   FIN     Peugeot 307     1hr 33min 54.3sec 9.  A Warmbold/G Price          D       Ford Focus RS   1hr 37min 22.7sec 10 T Arai/T Sircombe            J       Subaru Impreza  1hr 38min 06.8sec

Stage Times

Stage 1: 1. Solberg 15min 03.5sec; 2. Loeb + 10.7; 3. Grönholm + 11.2; 4. Märtin + 13.7; 5. Duval + 17.4; 6. Sainz + 21.8.

Stage 2: 1. Solberg 12min 11.5sec; 2. Grönholm + 6.9; 3. Sainz + 8.9; 4. Loeb + 9.6; 5. Duval + 9.9; 6. Martin + 13.3. Overall: 1. Solberg 27min 15.0sec; 2. Grönholm + 18.1; 3. Loeb + 20.3; 4. Märtin + 27.0; 5. Duval + 27.3sec; 6. Sainz + 30.7.

Stage 3: 1. Loeb 15min 28.3sec; 2. Solberg + 1.4; 3. Grönholm + 2.6; 4. Sainz + 8.6; 5. Märtin + 10.2; 6. Hirvonen + 12.5; 7. Duval + 18.8.

Overall: 1. Solberg 42min 44.7sec; 2. Loeb + 18.9; 3. Grönholm + 19.3; 4. Märtin + 35.8; 5. Sainz + 37.9; 6. Duval + 44.7.

Stage 4: 1. Solberg 2min 13.0sec; 2. Grönholm + 0.6; 3. Sainz + 1.7; 4. Loeb + 2.5; 5. Duval + 2.6; 6. Märtin + 2.6. Overall: 1. Solberg 44min 57.7sec; 2. Grönholm + 19.9; 3. Loeb + 21.4; 4. Märtin + 38.4; 5. Sainz + 39.6; 6. Duval + 47.3.

Stage 5: 1. Loeb 14min 46.6sec; 2. Solberg + 0.1; 3. Grönholm + 3.6; 4. Duval + 9.2; 5. Sainz + 9.5; 6. Hirvonen + 11.3; 7. Märtin + 12.8.

Overall: 1. Solberg 59min 44.4sec; 2. Loeb + 21.3; 3. Grönholm + 23.3; 4. Sainz + 49.0; 5. Märtin + 51.1; 6. Duval + 56.4.

Stage 6: 1. Loeb 11min 54.0sec; 2. Grönholm + 0.8; 3. Solberg+ 3.6; 4. Märtin + 5.4; 5. Sainz + 7.7; 6. Duval + 11.4. Overall: 1. Solberg 1hr 11min 42.0sec; 2. Loeb + 17.7; 3. Grönholm + 20.6; 4. Märtin + 52.9; 5. Sainz + 53.1; 6. Duval + 1:04.2.

Stage 7: 1. Loeb 14min 57.0sec; 2. Grönholm + 3.2; 3. Solberg+ 6.7; 4. Märtin + 15.3; 5. Sainz + 19.8; 6. Hirvonen + 23.6; 7. Duval + 28.2.

Overall: 1. Solberg 1hr 26min 45.7sec; 2. Loeb + 11.0; 3. Grönholm + 17.1; 4. Märtin + 1:01.5; 5. Sainz + 1:06.2; 6. Duval + 1:25.7.

Stage 8: 1. Solberg 2min 14.2sec; 2. Duval + 0.3; 3. Märtin + 0.8; 4. Grönholm + 0.9; 5. Loeb + 1.3; 6. Sainz + 1.6. Overall: 1. Solberg 1hr 28min 59.9sec; 2. Loeb + 12.3; 3. Grönholm + 18.0; 4. Märtin + 1:02.3; 5. Sainz + 1:07.8; 6. Duval + 1:26.0.

Stage 9: 1. Sainz 1min 34.2sec; 2. Märtin + 0.2; 3. Duval + 0.7; 4. Grönholm + 0.8; 5. Solberg + 1.0; 6. Loeb + 1.4. Overall: 1. Solberg 1hr 30min 35.1sec; 2. Loeb + 12.7; 3. Grönholm + 17.8; 4. Märtin + 1:01.7; 5. Sainz + 1:06.8; 6. Duval + 1:25.7.

Tomorrow’s Route

The second leg is again based around the small town of Rikubetsu but uses roads slightly further south.  After another 05.30 start from Obihiro, drivers complete two identical clockwise loops before a second pass over the Satsunai super special stage on the edge of the city.  The 11 tests comprise 124.98km and drivers return to Obihiro for the final overnight halt at 20.16.