Jari-Matti Latvala stunned his rivals by taking the early lead on the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, following the opening loop on Friday, the seventh round in the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship.

Latvala put in a stunning time on the opening test, the 31.13 kilometre Crastazza stage, and was 6.7 seconds quicker than Marcus Gronholm, who was 'best of the rest'.

The Stobart Ford man was unable to match that feat in SS2 and SS3 - but the fifth fastest time in Terranova and the third best time in Monte Olia, was enough to keep him in P1 and he returned to the mid-day service with a slender 1.5 second lead.

Jari-Matti though conceded following SS1 that the reason he is doing so well is due to his road position. He is running eighth in the order, after the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Gronholm, who are first and second through the tests and as such by then the stages have been swept clean.

"I scored the best time in SS1 because of my good start position. I've got a very good feeling with my car. I just have to take advantage of my position today," said the Finn.

Gronholm meanwhile heads the chasing pack for BP Ford, having been second quickest in SS1 and SS3 and fourth quickest in SS2: "I didn't expect to see Jari-Matti there but he had a good start position and drove well," said Grönholm. "I'm ahead of Loeb and that's the important thing.

"The first stage was my favourite because I remember it better than the others and it's good to drive. There was a lot of loose gravel which we were clearing for those behind. There should be less gravel on the same stages this afternoon and I hope it's not too rough. Everything will be more equal and start position will be less important. It will be maximum attack and I have to keep Loeb behind me."

Petter Solberg is next up in third for Subaru, 6.8 seconds adrift, while Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg and Citroen's Sebastien Loeb complete the top five, both having won a stage a piece, the latter taking the honours in SS2, while Henning managed it in SS3.

Further down the order, Chris Atkinson is sixth in the second works Subaru Impreza, around 10 seconds behind Loeb and 20 seconds off Latvala. The Aussie was pleased with his time in the first test, but reported that he had lost ground in SS2 and SS3 with handling issues.

Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo round out the provisional points' scorers at this stage, followed by Mitsubishi privateer, Juho Hanninen and Mads Ostberg, who is competing in an Adapta-run Impreza.

In the Junior WRC, Suzuki's Urmo Aava and Per-Gunnar Andersson lead the way, 1-2 in their Swifts. Aava is 12.5 seconds in front of his team-mate, who currently leads the JRC standings.

The action now resumes at 14.53 hours local time, when competitors will repeat this morning's tests to conclude the first leg.