Gronholm races to lead in Rally of Britain

Carl McKellar, Reuters, Cardiff, Wales

World champion Marcus Gronholm dominated the opening leg of the Rally of Britain as he opened up a commanding lead in the final event of the season.

Finn Gronholm, newly-crowned champion for Peugeot, set the pace on all of the stages completed on Friday to move 49.6 seconds ahead of Subaru's Norwegian Petter Solberg.

Gronholm mastered the muddy conditions in the Welsh forests to underline his dominance this year with four fastest stage times.

Victory for the 34-year-old would earn him a place in the record books alongside Didier Auriol as the only drivers to claim six wins in a single season.

Solberg is just 2.2 seconds ahead of Estonian Markko Martin, who led for Ford after Thursday's running of the superspecial in Cardiff's docklands following six stages of the event.

Only five of the tests had been completed, however, after organizers were forced to cancel a stage of the event for the first time in its 58-year history because of crowd congestion.

The second running of the 23.12-kilometer 'Brechfa' test was canceled because of congestion caused by "the pressure of spectators on the stage", organizers said.

The Motor Sport Association (MSA), which runs the rally, warned before the event that stages would be canceled if excessive numbers of spectators lined the roads in the Welsh forests.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz is fourth behind the leading trio for Ford, while Finns Harri Rovanpera of Peugeot and Subaru's four- time champion Tommi Makinen complete the top-six with one test remaining in the opening leg.

Britons Colin McRae and Richard Burns recovered from nightmare starts on Friday to move up to seventh and eighth respectively.

Ford driver McRae crashed on the morning's opening stage, Brechfa, and it took spectators over a minute to push his Focus WRC back onto the road.

On the next stage, Trawscoed, Peugeot's Burns left the road and damaged a hydraulic pipe and his engine's turbocharger, which resulted in a loss of power costing him 1-1/2 minutes.

Citroen's Frenchman Sebastien Loeb and Briton Mark Higgins, in Ford's line-up, completed the top 10.

World motorcycle champion Valentino Rossi's rally ended after the Italian crashed out in his Michelin-backed Peugeot on the day's opening stage.

Briton Justin Dale, substituting for the injured Alister McRae, was unhurt despite rolling his Mitsubishi on the same stage, but he later retired because of the damage to his Lancer WRC.