However, it was in fact Citroen privateer Petter Solberg that started the rally on a high note, as he won two of the first 4 special stages on Friday, including the first one. Nevertheless, the Norwegian lost plenty of seconds to Ogier, Sordo and Hirvonen during SS2 and SS3, and is now trailing the leading trio by almost four and a half seconds (while 7.4 secs behind Ogier).
Although not winning a single stage so far, Sordo is only a couple of seconds behind Ogier before the first service park of the rally, while also in front of SS2 winner Mikko Hirvonen. The Finn managed a great run on the short Karabeyli stage in the morning but failed to keep the same pace on the 13 km Bozgoca section afterwards.
Reigning world champion and overall championship leader Sebastien Loeb ran on a lower profile on Friday morning, arriving at the service park some 7.8 seconds behind Ogier (in 5th place). Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala is the last driver to maintain a competitive pace as compared to the front-runners (12 seconds behind), as Munchi's Federico Villagra's 7th place is on a distant 40 seconds to the leader.
The overall Top 10 at the end of SS4 is completed by Stobart's Matthew Wilson, Citroen Junior's Kimi Raikkonen and Pirelli Star Driver candidate Ott Tanak (driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X).
Action in Rally Turkey is to be resumed at 2 PM local time, with the 15.66 km stage of Darlik.
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