The opening leg of Telstra Rally Australia has provided some of the most dramatic action of the season and no fewer than five of the Championship-contending crews have been forced onto the sidelines. However, after 125 kilometres of competition, it is Mikko Hirvonen who leads for the BP-Ford World Rally Team, the young Finn demonstrating that winning stages is not necessarily the key to leading an event. In contrast, Marcus Grönholm’s on-going fight for the Drivers’ Championship took a severe blow this morning and he has a huge job ahead after rolling in the first stage of the day.

Rally Australia is characterised by unique ball-bearing shaped gravel found in Western Australia and, without the optimum tread pattern, it is almost impossible for tyres to cut through the gravel and find grip on the harder surface below. In the dry, especially, it is therefore one of the most slippery and treacherous events in the series. Marcus Grönholm was the first to succumb. The Finn hit a stone on the inside of a slow corner, which pitched his Focus into a roll. After pushing the car onto its wheels, he and co-driver Timo Rautiainen then had to jack the car up to release it from a tree stump. In the process, the duo lost more than 10 minutes and plummeted to 56th position. In the absence of the recovering Sébastien Loeb, Grönholm - who overnights inside the top 20 - must finish in the top three if he is to continue fighting for the FIA World Rally Championship.

A host of other leading crews then hit problems, and all were forced into retirement from the leg. Daniel Sordo, driving the Kronos Citroën Xsara, suffered transmission problems - which will also do nothing to aid the team’s battle against Ford in the Manufacturers’ Championship - while rising star Matthew Wilson damaged the suspension and transmission on his Focus after hitting a rock. His team-mate Luis Perez Companc then rolled in the second stage of the day, Henning Solberg (Peugeot 307) went off the road and Chris Atkinson, the early leader for three stages, slid off and beached the car on soft ground.

Despite the disappointment of losing Atkinson, Subaru will certainly take heart from an impressive performance by both its crews. Petter Solberg has also been one of the pace-setters and led briefly, until dust slowed him in the final forest stage of the day. After a neck and neck fight that has seen him, Atkinson and Hirvonen split by just a handful of seconds throughout the day, Solberg now lies second to Hirvonen, 26.2 seconds adrift. Xavier Pons - deputising for Loeb in the number one Xsara - is a distant third. Manfred Stohl, driving the remaining registered OMV Peugeot 307, is fourth and the only other world rally car entrant to complete the leg after a day of carnage in the forests around Perth.

Rally Australia - Results after Leg 1
 

1	Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	1 hr 13 min 10.1sec
2	Petter Solberg/Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC	1 hr 13 min 36.3sec
3	Xavier Pons/Carlos Del Barrio	Citroën Xsara WRC	1 hr 14 min 34.5sec
4	Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor	Peugeot 307 WRC	1 hr 14 min 42.7sec
5	Dean Herridge/Bill Hayes	Subaru Impreza WRX	1 hr 18 min 47.1sec
6	Toshihiro Arai/Tony Sircombe	Subaru Impreza WRX	1 hr 18 min 50.4sec

 
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