Gronholm throws down gauntlet

MOTORSPORT/Rally Ireland:Marcus Gronholm threw down the gauntlet to all challengers with a pulsating performance over yesterday evening's first stage of Rally Ireland watched by a capacity crowd of spectators in dry conditions at Stormont.

Following the spectacular opening ceremony, the first of the match races saw Dungannon's Kris Meeke finishing ahead of Gareth MacHale and setting a time of one minute 31.8 seconds, which was third fastest overall.

Gronholm powered his Ford Focus RS over the short stage in a time of one minute 30.6 seconds to lead Sebastien Loeb in a Citroen with a time of one minute 31.6 seconds.

The match races, starting two cars at a time and including a spectacular jump, were the highlight of the evening.

The rally was scheduled to restart at 7.15 this morning in Sligo, and will cover eight stages. First car is due back in Sligo at around 6.30pm.

"It was slippery around the stage but I enjoyed himself immensely and can't wait to get to Sligo," said Gronholm afterwards. Meeke and Loeb concurred but both said they had enjoyed the stage and the atmosphere in particular.

More than 11,500 rally fans turned up to the sell-out event and they drew unanimous praise from the competitors.

Ford's Andreas Mikkelsen said: "The crowd was wonderful - it was just a brilliant setting."

RALLY IRELAND (at Sligo, round 15 of FIA World Rally Championship): Overnight positions after opening stage at Stormont:1 Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Ford Focus WRC) 1m 30.8s, 2 Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) 1m 31.7s, 3 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1m 31.8s, 4 Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1m 32.0s, 5 Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1m 32.2s, 6 Jari Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Ford Focus WRC) 1m 32.5s, 7 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Focus WRC) 1m 32.5s, 8 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Citroen C4 WRC) 1m 32.7s, 9 Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1m 33.3s, 10 Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor (Citroen Xsara WRC) 1m 33.3s, 11 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1m 33.7s, 12 Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Ford Focus WRC) 1m 34.0s.