Petter Solberg and Phil Mills had a consistent day in the top six. The duo finished with a solid drive to fourth fastest in the treacherous conditions on SS6 while being unable to change from a dry setup for the sudden rain. The Norwegian’s confidence in the car allowed him to close on Francois Duval in fifth position to narrow the gap to just 9.6 seconds. Using the day to make small setup changes, Petter felt the balance of the car improved, and there is still more to come for the next two legs.
With conditions for SS1 damp and slippery, Chris Atkinson took a gamble on harder tyres, finishing sixth fastest in the first stage but experiencing a serious lack of grip in the second. He overshot a junction and, while the car was undamaged, had slipped to 11th by the time he finished. The first service of the day allowed a change of BFGoodrich compound that allowed Chris and co-driver Stephane Prevot to return to posting top-six stage times and climb the overall standings steadily to eighth at the end of leg one, 11.0 seconds behind Latvala in seventh.
After an encouraging shakedown session in which Xevi Pons was second fastest, Friday morning was a little more challenging for Subaru’s local boy, who encountered brake troubles during the first loop of two stages. Having improved the situation, he climbed to seventh overall before a stall dropped him to ninth by the end of SS3. Buoyed by the enthusiasm and cheers of the local fans, Xevi drove through the rain on SS6 with malfunctioning windscreen wipers, greatly impeding his visibility, to consolidate ninth overall by the end of the day.