Nov 07: Subaru's Petter Solberg set the pace on stage one of the Rally of Great Britain on Thursday night. The 2.25km special stage got the rally underway, but the real action will not start until Friday morning, when the drivers begin the forest stages.

Super-special stages usually offer little indication as to how the rally will unfold.

However, Solberg's impressive display will have caused some concern to his title rivals. The Norwegian, who is just a point behind joint championship leaders Carlos Sainz and Sebastien Loeb, clocked a time of two minutes 8.7 seconds.

That put him 1.4secs clear of Ford's Markko Martin in second, with outgoing world champion Marcus Gronholm joint third alongside Subaru's Tommi Makinen.


Sainz was in fifth place, losing 3.2secs on Solberg, while Citroen team-mate Loeb was a further 0.1secs adrift in joint sixth alongside the Peugeot of Freddy Loix.

Colin McRae - the main British hope in the event following Richard Burns' withdrawal - ended the stage eighth, 3.5secs off the pace in his Citroen.

Bureau Report