Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) powered his Focus RS into an early lead on his 50th WRC start before Grönholm moved to the front. However, the Finn went off the road in the following 2.73km Rikubetsu test, dropping a minute and damaging the roll cage inside the door on his side of the car.
The damage was too great for Grönholm to continue for safety reasons and he retired from the day's action. The team and FIA technical officials then examined the point of impact in greater detail to determine whether repairs could be made to allow him to restart tomorrow under SuperRally regulations. However, additional damage was found to the mounting where the door bars link to the main hoop of the roll cage and Grönholm was ruled out for the rest of the rally.
"The accident happened at a third gear corner at a point in the stage where I changed my pace notes during the recce," Grönholm said. "It's faster there this year because some trees have been cut down. I slid wide and the right rear wheel hit some straw bales. The impact threw the car down a bank into a tree stump. The impact was hard and on my door. The stage was covered with loose gravel and was slippery all the way through.
"The drivers' title is still open, whatever the result here, but a non-finish obviously makes it more difficult. The accident was similar to the one in Australia last year when I went off the road and hit some tree stumps. That cost me the title so I hope it works out a different way this season," he added.
Following Grönholm's demise, Latvala retook the lead and stayed there until Hirvonen moved ahead early this afternoon. Latvala won two stages and held off the challenge of Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) until the penultimate test. The gap between the duo is just 3.4sec. Dani Sordo (Citroen) won two stages to climb to fourth, despite a third stage spin, ahead of Henning Solberg (Ford) who is an excellent fifth on his Japanese debut.
Petter Solberg (Subaru) went off briefly in stage five and then retired from sixth on the liaison section after the test with gear selection problems. Teammate Chris Atkinson spun on the second stage but worse was to befall the Australian when he crashed heavily on stage six.
Leaderboard after Leg 1
1. M Hirvonen/J LehtinenFINFord Focus RS1hr 00min 30.8sec
2. S Loeb/D ElenaFCitroen C41hr 00min 41.1sec
3. J-M Latvala/M AnttilaFINFord Focus RS1hr 00min 44.5sec
4. D Sordo/M MartiECitroen C41hr 01min 11.4sec
5. H Solberg/C MenkerudNFord Focus RS1hr 01min 19.2sec
6. M Stohl/I MinorACitroen Xsara1hr 02min 00.8sec
7. X Pons/X AmigoESubaru Impreza1hr 02min 33.4sec
8. L Perez Companc/J-M VoltaARGFord Focus RS1hr 02min 51.6sec
9. M Wilson/M OrrGBFord Focus RS1hr 03min 21.6sec
10 F Villagra/J Perez CompancARGFord Focus RS1hr 03min 57.2sec
The damage was too great for Grönholm to continue for safety reasons and he retired from the day's action. The team and FIA technical officials then examined the point of impact in greater detail to determine whether repairs could be made to allow him to restart tomorrow under SuperRally regulations. However, additional damage was found to the mounting where the door bars link to the main hoop of the roll cage and Grönholm was ruled out for the rest of the rally.
"The accident happened at a third gear corner at a point in the stage where I changed my pace notes during the recce," Grönholm said. "It's faster there this year because some trees have been cut down. I slid wide and the right rear wheel hit some straw bales. The impact threw the car down a bank into a tree stump. The impact was hard and on my door. The stage was covered with loose gravel and was slippery all the way through.
"The drivers' title is still open, whatever the result here, but a non-finish obviously makes it more difficult. The accident was similar to the one in Australia last year when I went off the road and hit some tree stumps. That cost me the title so I hope it works out a different way this season," he added.
Following Grönholm's demise, Latvala retook the lead and stayed there until Hirvonen moved ahead early this afternoon. Latvala won two stages and held off the challenge of Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) until the penultimate test. The gap between the duo is just 3.4sec. Dani Sordo (Citroen) won two stages to climb to fourth, despite a third stage spin, ahead of Henning Solberg (Ford) who is an excellent fifth on his Japanese debut.
Petter Solberg (Subaru) went off briefly in stage five and then retired from sixth on the liaison section after the test with gear selection problems. Teammate Chris Atkinson spun on the second stage but worse was to befall the Australian when he crashed heavily on stage six.
Leaderboard after Leg 1
1. M Hirvonen/J LehtinenFINFord Focus RS1hr 00min 30.8sec
2. S Loeb/D ElenaFCitroen C41hr 00min 41.1sec
3. J-M Latvala/M AnttilaFINFord Focus RS1hr 00min 44.5sec
4. D Sordo/M MartiECitroen C41hr 01min 11.4sec
5. H Solberg/C MenkerudNFord Focus RS1hr 01min 19.2sec
6. M Stohl/I MinorACitroen Xsara1hr 02min 00.8sec
7. X Pons/X AmigoESubaru Impreza1hr 02min 33.4sec
8. L Perez Companc/J-M VoltaARGFord Focus RS1hr 02min 51.6sec
9. M Wilson/M OrrGBFord Focus RS1hr 03min 21.6sec
10 F Villagra/J Perez CompancARGFord Focus RS1hr 03min 57.2sec