Defending World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb holds the lead of Rally Finland tonight after setting the fastest time through the opening head-to-head Super Special Stage.
Thousands of spectators flocked to the Killeri trotting track in Jyvaskyla to watch the action, which took place under clear skies and in bright early evening sunshine.
The stage began at 1900hrs, but with the 90-strong field running in reverse order it was 2100hrs before the leading WRC crews were in action.

Loeb and his title rival Mikko Hirvonen were the last pair to tackle the circuit, with Loeb taking the win by 0.9sec. "It's good, but for the rally is not finished yet," Sèb said at the finish control. "This is only a stage for fun - the real game will start tomorrow. But for the moment everything is okay."
French's team-mate Dani Sordo holds overnight second place, just 0.1sec adrift. "I liked it a lot," said the Spaniard. "We started well. We'll see tomorrow how we get on on the proper stages."

A clean run from Ford's World Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen meant he slotted into third place overall. "It was great to see and hear the support from the Finnish fans. A driver can't help but be encouraged by that type of backing," he said. "It's frustrating to lose time, even though it was less than a second, but I have to remember that losing 0.9sec is really nothing to worry about. Tomorrow it will be maximum attack!"

Shakedown in Jÿvaskyla

Sebastien Loeb got his bid for a second Rally Finland victory off to a good start this morning by setting the fastest time at the pre-event Shakedown.
Loeb made four passes through the stage in his C4 WRC, setting his quickest time of 2min 2.2sec on his final attempt.
Drivers' championship leader Mikko Hirvonen completed only two passes, setting a best time of 2min 03.7sec with his Focus RS WRC on his second run before declaring himself happy. "Like always in Finland the Shakedown stage isn't the best - it's not really representative and it gets really soft," he explained. "One or two runs to test clutches and that was it for us. We have made no changes after our pre-event test because everything is working fine."