Pirelli off to solid start in Italy

Friday, 29 April - Pirelli-equipped cars are in the thick of the action on the all-gravel Rally d'Italia-Sardinia, round five of the World Rally Championship. Subaru driver Petter Solberg is third after three stages, just 8.7 seconds off the lead. The second Subaru of young Australian Chris Atkinson is just two seconds behind in fifth, while the Mitsubishi-Pirelli of Harri Rovanpera is sixth. The Pirelli-equipped Peugeot of Marcus Gronholm won the first stage and finished second on SS2, but the Finn's challenge for the lead was delayed by a roll on SS3. Pirelli's drivers have used the renowned KM tyres so far in today's warm and dry weather, with three stages remaining of leg one and 17 stages in total before the finish on Sunday. Rally d'Italia-Sardinia (round 5 of 16) - classification after SS3 1 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsara WRC 48m14.3s 2 Hirvonen-Lehtinen Ford Focus WRC +7.9s 3 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +8.7s 4 Duval-Prevot Citroen Xsara WRC +9.1s 5 Atkinson-Macneall Subaru Impreza WRC +10.6s 6 Rovanpera-Pietilainen Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +22.5s 7 Ekstrom-Bergman Skoda Fabia WRC +23.5s 8 Martin-Park Peugeot 307 WRC +33.3s 9 Galli-d'Amore Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +37.9s 10 Carlsson-Andersson Subaru Impreza WRC +40.8s