Suzuki driver Kosti Katajamaki is leading after the opening day of the Rally d'Italia-Sardinia, round four of the Junior World Rally Championship. Urmo Aava is second in another Ignis, while the similar car of P-G Andersson is in fourth. Right behind him is the Ignis of Guy Wilks in sixth, while the Suzukis of Czech drivers Martin Prokop and Pavel Valousek are 11th and 12th. The Ignis of Alan Scorcioni is classified 13th.

Katajamaki driving fast and avoiding all the big rocks

The day was characterised by a fierce battle between the Suzuki drivers and the Citroen C2s of Kris Meeke and Daniel Sordo, which have made a big step forwards in terms of competition. The Citroen set four fastest times today, while the Suzuki only needed to set two to be sure of the lead.

The first leg of the all-gravel event consisted of six demanding stages, run through the countryside around the port of Olbia. Weather conditions were dry and hot, with temperatures peaking at 31 degrees centigrade. The stages were unusually rough and rocky, which meant that punctures were a constant risk.

Kosti took the lead on the opening special stage and maintained it until the end of the leg. His Suzuki Ignis was a paragon of reliability, and he ran with no problems throughout the day.

Kosti, backed by two-time World Champion Marcus Gronholm, said: "We've had a very good day and nothing has really stopped our progress. Conditions have been extremely tough and rocky, but we just tried our best to be extremely careful and quick, and this strategy seemed to work."

Urmo Aava was also straight on the pace, despite not having driven on gravel for six months. He too steered clear of problems and ended up in a well-deserved podium place at the end of leg one.

The Estonian commented: "It's almost been like learning to drive again as I have never used the five-door Ignis on a rally before. But things have gone even better than I expected, and I've been incredibly impressed with the car. The key to this rally has been avoiding punctures and luckily we have been able to do that."

Reigning Junior World Rally Champion P-G Andersson was not so lucky. He picked up a puncture eight kilometres into the opening stage and had to stop and change the tyre. Nonetheless, a sensible and problem-free drive over the rest of the day saw him finish just eight seconds off the podium.

P-G said: "It was disappointing to start the rally in such a bad way, but afterwards it got much better. It is so easy to pick up a puncture here as there are sharp rocks absolutely everywhere."

His team mate Guy Wilks was proof of this, picking up no fewer than four punctures during the day! On stages four and five he was left with no spare tyres and was forced to drive with a punctured wheel. Under the circumstances, he did a magnificent job to salvage sixth place at the end of day one.

The Junior World Rally Championship leader commented: "It's been terrible - my day has been ruined by punctures! There is no real logic to it - I have just been very unlucky. The car was incredibly difficult to drive with the punctured tyres but I would like to thank Suzuki for building such a strong car which coped with the punishment well."

Team manager Risto Laine said: "I always thought this would be the toughest test of the year and that is certainly proving to be the case. However, the good news is that we nearly have three Suzukis on the podium, which is a strong testament to the performance and reliability of the cars under these difficult conditions."

Italian Alan Scorcioni, driving his second rally in an Ignis run by Czech team JM Engineering, was bitterly disappointed to see his rally come to an end on only the first stage, when he went off on a tricky corner.

He said: "This is a horrible way to finish my home rally. However, under the new re-start rules, I hope to be back in front of my home crowd for the second leg, which will improve my knowledge of a very impressive car."

Tomorrow's second leg of the Rally Italia is the longest of the entire event, taking in 144 competitive kilometres over five stages. Weather conditions are again expected to be warm and dry. The first car leaves Parc Ferme in Olbia at 0800 (CET) and returns to the town at 1842.

Junior World Rally Championship classification at end of leg one, Rally d'Italia:

1 Kosti Katajamaki (Suzuki Ignis) 1h45m13.4s
2 Urmo Aava (Suzuki Ignis) +1m45.2s
3 Kris Meeke (Citroen C2) +1m46.0s
4 P-G Andersson (Suzuki Ignis) +1m54.6s
5 Daniel Sordo (Citroen C2) +2m16.2s
6 Guy Wilks (Suzuki Ignis) +3m07.9s
7 Conrad Rautenbach (Citroen C2) +4m11.9s
8 Mirco Baldacci (Fiat Punto) +5m06.0s
11 Martin Prokop (Suzuki Ignis) +16m03.8s
12 Pavel Valousek (Suzuki Ignis) +22m05.2s
13 Alan Scorcioni (Suzuki Ignis) +28m53.7s