The 2002 Rally Finland got underway this evening when the 77 competing crews left the Paviljonki complex in the centre of Jyväskylä, thousands of fans lining the streets, cheering on their heroes in a country widely regarded as the spiritual home of rallying.

The crews headed straight to the famous Killeri super special stage, a purpose-built horse trotting track that pits two cars head to head in the ultimate spectator challenge. Fast straights, tight hairpins and Finland’s famous jumps, surrounding a picturesque lake, are all included in the 2.06 kilometre stage, which traditionally hosts fans that travel from miles around to witness the world-class action.

All three of the Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crews played it steady in this crowd-pulling teaser, the drivers all too aware that rallies can only be lost in the confines of such tight and twisty spectator stages. Alister McRae led the trio of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC2s, the Scot commenting: "No problems, everything was fine for us".

Adding to his comments, François Delecour said: "My start was not brilliant, but the feeling with the car is good. The later cars seemed to be going better as the stage cleaned and, if that’s the case, then it’s good for us for tomorrow as we will be in a strong starting position".

Jani Paasonen was almost overawed by the support of his home supporters. "The stage was fantastic, full of cheering people, a great atmosphere", he enthused. "Unfortunately we got a broken windscreen when rocks were thrown up from François Duval’s car, so the team will now have to change this tonight".

Peugeot driver Richard Burns takes the early overnight lead, the Briton an impressive eight-tenths of a second quicker than any of his rivals. He leads Ford’s Carlos Sainz and Subaru driver Petter Solberg after just 2.06 kilometres of competition.

In the battle for Group N, Daniel Carlsson takes the lead in his Lancer Evolution, the Swede holding a narrow advantage over fellow Mitsubishi drivers Jukka Ketomäki (Finland) and Marcos Ligato (Argentina) who holds first position in the Production Car World Championship, followed closely by Italian Alessandro Fiorio.