The all-new Suzuki Swift had a spectacular start to its World Championship career - but not in the way that the team had hoped! Reigning Junior World Champion P-G Andersson was in a strong second place on the opening day of the all-gravel Rally Finland, when he hit a bump that catapulted him into the scenery.

Guy Wilks pushing his Suzuki Swift to some good stage times

Englishman Guy Wilks also hit problems, losing time on the opening stage with a punctured tyre that refused to come off. Having dropped six minutes, he started an intense fightback which saw his new Swift finish the opening leg sixth in the Junior World Championship standings.

Four Suzuki Ignis drivers also started the Rally Finland, round five of the Junior World Rally Championships, and the best placed is Estonian Urmo Aava who finishes leg one third in class, just ahead of the similar Ignis of Pavel Valousek who returns to Parc Ferme fourth. Suzuki driver Martin Prokop is currently eighth.

The Ignis of Kosti Katajamaki, tipped as a potential winner, unfortunately did not make it through the first stage. The Finn retired with a transmission problem that meant he would play no further part in proceedings. He will be back to start the second leg under the new super rally regulations.

The first leg of the fast gravel event consisted of eight demanding stages, run through the rolling forests around the university town of Jyvaskyla. Weather conditions were damp in the morning, before drying out completely in the afternoon.

P-G controlled his pace through the opening stages, happy to hold second place and remain within striking distance of the lead. Unfortunately he crashed before having a chance to mount an attack, on what has already become an infamous stretch of road thanks to its many victims.

The Swede said: "It's a real shame as I felt very comfortable with the car and I planned to push harder later. The accident was a stupid thing, as nobody quite expected the bump to be so big. However it was a new stage, which can always cause a surprise. The bump threw us into the air and we landed with the front of the car against a rock, which spun us round and launched the car into several rolls. I've been very impressed with the performance of the car, and sadly by its strength as well!"

Guy was also the focus of attention as his Swift powered through the opening stage. But the Englishman was unlucky enough to pick up a puncture, causing the wheel rim to jam against the calliper and making the wheel almost impossible to remove. Guy had to drive the car slowly down the road in order to find a place where it would be possible to take off the wheel. Although he lost six minutes, he started a brilliant recovery drive that comes close to demonstrating the potential of the all-new Swift.

Guy reported: "Once we got the original wheel off it was a really tricky job to put the new wheel on, as all the studs had sheared off. Eventually we sorted the problem, and from then on everything was OK. It's annoying to lose the time, but at least it means we have nothing to lose now - we just have to go as fast as we can. There is no point in going mad though as we have every possibility of scoring good points and we do not want to jeopardise that situation. I'm happy with the performance of the car so let's see what happens! There's still a very long way to go."

Urmo Aava was also straight on the pace to power into a well-deserved podium place at the end of leg one. Urmo had no mechanical problems at all, and enjoyed the roads similar to those of his Estonian homeland. His rapid pace enabled him to set times at the sharp end of the leaderboard.

The Estonian commented: "Today has been a very good day for me. The car has been fast and reliable, and we've enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The only problem we had was when a spectator pushed our fire extinguisher button outside the car. But it did not hold us back, as that was just before a stage where we set fastest time! Tomorrow we have to keep up a good pace in order to consolidate our place on the podium."

Pavel Valousek, in an Ignis run by JM Engineering, has also enjoyed an extremely successful outing during leg one. He is pleased with fourth place.

The Czech said: "It's not been an easy rally, but it's been very exciting to drive. I'm very happy with fourth, and the Ignis gives me a lot of confidence on these extremely fast and tricky roads."

Czech youngster Martin Prokop was eighth, having taken time to learn the event.

He said: "These roads are absolutely awesome, but I am definitely lacking in experience of them. My aim tomorrow is to improve my knowledge and make up a few places."

Suzuki Sports President Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima said: "It's going to be a very exciting time for Guy now! But we are obviously very disappointed to lose P-G, who was in a very strong position before he went off. Sadly both of the new Swift drivers have been very unlucky today, and they have not had the chance to show the real potential of the car. But we hope for better things tomorrow for the Swift. The Ignis drivers did a fantastic job, and I would particularly like to congratulate Urmo on a very well-deserved third place overnight."

Tomorrow's second leg of the Rally Finland contains almost an identical competitive distance to the opening leg: 144 competitive kilometres over eight stages. Weather conditions are again expected to be largely dry. The first car leaves Parc Ferme in Jyvaskyla at 060 (CET+1) and returns to the town at 1949.

Junior World Rally Championship classification at end of leg one, Rally Finland:

1. Kris Meeke (Citroen C2) 1h22m18.0s
2. Daniel Sordo (Citroen C2) +25.3s
3. Urmo Aava (Suzuki Ignis) +49.3s
4. Pavel Valousek (Suzuki Ignis) +5m39.7s
5. Luca Betti (Renault Clio) +5m42.8s
6. Guy Wilks (Suzuki Swift) +6m18.1s
7. Martin Prokop (Suzuki Ignis) +6m52.9s
8. Mirco Baldacci (Fiat Punto) +17m46.3s
10. Kosti Katajamaki (Suzuki Ignis) +37m33.8s