Hirvonen takes early lead in Italy

The morning shakedown in Italy saw a surprise at the top with Robert Kubica a tenth of a second ahead of Sebastien Ogier. He would not fare near as well in the super special stage later in the day however. In fact, he had an unforeseen meeting with the tire barriers that hindered his efforts and kept him low in the running order.

Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC

Photo by: XPB Images

The super special glory went to Mikko Hirvonen, who's last WRC victory came in this very event two years ago. Currently, the Hyundai of Thierry Neuville and Sebastian Ogier in the VW are tied for second place. They are both just two tenths off the lead.

Another full second back was Neuville's sister Hyundai, piloted by Juho Hanninen. Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke (tied) round out the top five, 1.7 seconds off the Ford Fiesta of Hirvonen.

The remainder of the top ten can be seen below. Tomorrow, there will be four stages run in the morning that will be repeated in the afternoon.

1. Mikko Hirvonen - 1min 19.1s

2. Thierry Neuville - +0.2s

3. Sebastien Ogier - +0.2s

4. Juho Hanninen - +1.2s

5. Jari-Matti Latvala - +1.7s

6. Kris Meeke - +1.7s

7. Elfyn Evans - +1.8s

8. Andreas Mikkelsen - +1.8s

9. Henning Solberg - +2.1s

10. Mads Ostberg - +2.6s