 Gronholm leads the overall standings by four points |
Championship leader Marcus Gronholm won the opening super special stage of the Rally of Portugal on Thursday. The Finnish Ford driver completed the 2.2km stage in front of 20,000 spectators in Faro's Algarve Stadium in two minutes 5.8 seconds.
Spain's Dani Sordo was 2.3 seconds behind with Citroen team-mate and world champion Sebastien Loeb joint third with Subaru's Petter Solberg.
Four people were injured when Armindo Araujo's Mitsubishi slid off the track.
The rally proper, which is returning to the world championship stage after a six-year absence, starts on Friday.
Rally of Portugal standings after Thursday's super special stage
1 Marcus Gronholm (FIN) Ford 2min 05.8sec
2 Dani Sordo (ESP) Citroen +2.3 seconds
3= Petter Solberg (NOR) Subaru 3.3
3= Sebastien Loeb (FRA) Citroen +3.3secs
5 Henning Solberg (NOR) Ford +4.6secs
6 Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Ford +4.9secs
7 Chris Atkinson (AUS) Subaru +5.6secs
8= Gigi Galli (ITA) Citroen +5.7secs
8= Daniel Carlsson (SWE) Citroen +5.7secs
10 Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Mitsubishi +6.1secs
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