Marcus Gronholm finished the first day of Rally Portugal in fourth place after setting some impressive times during the day’s six stages. Until the final stage of the day, he was comfortably lying in second place, but caught the slowing Ford of Khalid Al Qassimi and lost time before being able to pass him.
Just six seconds behind third-placed Loeb, and 24 seconds off the lead, Gronholm is well placed to attack the cars ahead of his Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRC2008.
“The road position was quite good for us, but I struggled a little with the notes at the beginning, they were not perfect and it was difficult to find a rhythm,” he said.
“The plan for tomorrow is to follow the others, I think they will be very quick,” he added. “But we’ll see what we can do.”
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