Over and out

Day one of the Japanese World Rally stage has proven to be an absolutely incredible event.
Things were set up to be tense between the leading Gronholm and Champion Loeb as Japan provided the closest finish of 2006 with Loeb beating Gronholm by 5.6 seconds, while the last gravel event of this season in New Zealand gave us the closest World Rally Championship finish in history with Gronholm claiming victory over Loeb with just 0.3 seconds to spare.
But things aren't going to be that simple, on day one Gronholm has shockingly gone off and taken big impact damage to the side of his Focus, having to retire with the roll cage deemed too badly damaged for him to continue, giving Loeb exactly the sort of lead he needs.
Fortunately Hirvonen has unleashed the beast once again and finishes with a 10 second advantage, which will thankfully steal two points from Loeb if he can hold it until the end.
The rising star in Latvala also gave a display of his skills by taking an early lead, but by the end of the day drops to third, three seconds behind Loeb. While Loeb is known for his consistency Latvala has posted some fastest stage times, so hopefully he will pull his way back into second before the end of the rally, anything to give Gronholm a bit more of a chance.
Hokkaido proves its courses to be extremely treacherous as Gronholm is not the only victim on the first day, both Petter and Henning Solberg take almost fatal offs on the same crest, with Hirvonen and Latvala barely surviving exactly the same mistake.
Subaru will have disappointed its fans in its home country, with its two main drivers already out of the game, Petter having retired with gearbox problems, and Atkinson tearing the roof off his car as he loses control and spins off for a second time.
With so many early retirements of such key names spaces have been made for drivers lower down the ladder to come into the point scoring positions, such as Stohl, Pons and Companc, leaving Hirvonen as almost the sole character with a real chance of holding off Loeb, in which I will be supporting him all the way. And as the first day ends with heavy rain it looks like the action isn't over by a long shot.
While the burning rivalry between Loeb and Gronholm has been damaged, the long sweeping gravel and dirt stages of New Zealand and Japan have ultimately proven what spectacular competition the surface type and course style provides, and with Wales spoken of as the same design it has only made me more excited about the end of November.