shortened (moving the start around 1 km into the stage due to ice) and the third and sixth stages at Myherin were dramatically shortened, using the middle 18 km of the original 35 km. The FIA regulations came in for criticism from several of the teams and champion elect Sébastien Loeb for the lack of flexibility in the tyre rules which state that only one type of tyre is allowed on the event with no modifications allowed to that tyre. Loeb also spoke out against the lack of gravel crews, which run through the stage before the start and report any bad conditions to the drivers. The year's junior world champion Sébastien Ogier surprised by winning his first stage in a World Rally Car, albeit he was among the competitors to benefit from a late starting position. On the same stage, Production World Rally Championship leader Juho Hänninen retired after his drive shaft broke, leaving Andreas Aigner to take the title if he finishes the event in the top three. On the fifth stage, last year's winner Mikko Hirvonen rolled his Ford Focus WRC and lost several minutes. The next top entrant to roll was Subaru's Chris Atkinson, who was placed sixth before retiring after a bad accident on the first corner of stage seven, the first super special stage. After day one, Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala led from Citroën's Sébastien Loeb, Suzuki's Per-Gunnar Andersson and Subaru privateer Mads Østberg. Day two Day two began with a long stage in Resolfen. Two of the rally's surprises ran into problems; Østberg's Impreza WRC suffered an engine problem and Ogier rolled his C4 WRC very close to the stage finish. The crews reported more icy conditions in the stages, with Latvala feeling particularly ill at ease as he was the first car on the road and therefore the first to encounter the treacherous patches of ice. Throughout the day the conditions improved enough for Latvala to manage to hold off the challenges of firstly Dani Sordo, and then Sébastien Loeb. Latvala held a 10.8 second lead going into the short Cardiff superspecial but clutch problems developed when he had to queue in heavy traffic on the approach to the stage and he lost 3.5 seconds of this advantage. In fourth position was Petter Solberg who was only twenty seconds behind third place. Per-Gunnar Andersson had slipped back to fifth place, but was still