Norway’s Petter Solberg wins first stage
July 29, 2010
JYVASKYLA, Finland (AP)—Norway’s Petter Solberg has taken the first stage ofthe Rally Finland ahead of Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen and six-time world championSebastien Loeb of France.
Solberg, the 2003 world champion, covered an uphill stretch of 4.19kilometers, on both asphalt and gravel, in two minutes, 33.2 seconds, one secondahead of Hirvonen and 1.6 faster than Loeb, who tied with Jati Latvala ofFinland.
They were followed by Norway’s Henning Solberg, Frenchman Sebastien Ogierand Spain’s Daniel Sordo.
Citroen driver Loeb leads the championship standings on 151 points, ahead ofsecond-place Ogier on 100.
The drivers will negotiate a total of 310 kilometers on the famously fastgravel roads in three days.
