Action packed SS9 opens Saturday's competition

Henning Solberg lost around 30 seconds on Saturday’s opening stage when he collected a front-right puncture 5km before the finish. The incident cost Solberg his third place, dropping him behind his Stobart team-mate Gigi Galli and into fourth overall. “The road conditions are very difficult,” said Henning. “The cars ahead are cutting up the surface and we don’t know that is underneath.”

SS9 is one of the rally’s most southerly tests, and the one most affected by the unseasonably warm weather. Rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala was first through: “The first 3km were a mixture of gravel and snow,” he said. “It was very slippery and I had a couple of moments, but after that it was mainly gravel and the grip was brilliant - but of course not so good for the tyres. On the second pass this one will be full gravel.”

Khalid Al Qassimi and leading privateer driver Mads Ostberg both lost more than 10 minutes after going off at the same corner 5km from the start. “I tried to lift the pace a little this morning,” said Khalid. “But I left my braking too late at the end of a long straight and went off into a ditch. I am very grateful to the spectators who carried my car back onto the road!”

Petter Solberg set the tenth fastest time but was frustrated by the feeling of his Subaru. “We have a big problem,” he said. “We changed the dampers last night and today the car is undriveable.”

Sebastien Loeb won the stage but after retiring on day one he was more than 24 minutes behind the leaders. “We’re back today to test and work on the set-up,” he said. “But that stage was tricky, almost all gravel, so it’s difficult to learn very much.” Asked about his motivation for the rest of the event Loeb said: “I’d prefer to go home, but the team wants me to drive, so I drive.”