Latvala narrowly leads Rally Australia
ROBERT GRANT
September 4, 2009 - 6:54PM

Young Finn Jari-Matti Latvala emerged with a narrow lead in Rally Australia on a day when competitors had to dodge rocks hurled by protesters.

While environmental activists forced the cancellation of two stages of the world rally championship round and teams had to be escorted to starting points, the Ford Focus star dominated day one.

He collected a total of six stage wins and will start Saturday's second leg with a lead of 7.4 seconds.

Frenchman Sebastien Ogier in a Citroen C4 was in second place overall with a further five-second break to Finn Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford followed by the Citroens of Spaniard Dani Sordo and five-time world champion Sebastien Loeb.

Hirvonen scored an early break over Loeb, the Frenchman he leads by just three points in the championship.

But the day belonged to Latvala who opened brightly win a win in the opening stage and finished no lower than third in the following eight sectors.

"It's been surprisingly good," Latvala said.

"Stage four was not so good for me when I hit a hole and made a little damage to one of the steering track rods so it bent about 15 or 20 degrees to the left.

"But since then, I finished the stage and checked that it was not too dangerous to drive and after that I just got a good relaxed feeling.

"I would say I've been driving at 95 per cent but I've been clean and tidy, that's been the key.

"It was better the second time around because a lot of the roads had loose gravel on top so that was basically washed away and there was a much better grip for breaking and in the corners," he said.

Hirvonen was driving with a firm glance in the rear vision mirror with his championship hopes seriously boosted if he finishes ahead of Loeb.

"I am keeping my eye on Loeb," Hirvonen said, "it's interesting to see what the boys are doing. I am trying really hard and pushing as hard as I can."

Meanwhile, police were continuing investigations into the protest activity.

NSW police said they had reports on Friday morning of boulders placed on the roadway near the Byrill Creek stage of the rally and officers from the Public Order and Riot Squad were called in to remove them.

Police said that about 10:40am the first car to drive along the stage - Hirvonen - was hit by a number of rocks.

"While the driver of the car was not injured in the incident, organisers of the rally stopped the stage due to concerns for the safety of the drivers and spectators," the police statement said.

A police helicopter was called in but the protesters disappeared into the surrounding bushland.

Supt Michael Kenny said police respected people's right to protest but would not tolerate the behaviour.

"The protesters involved in this rock throwing incident have shown total disregard for the safety of competitors and officials involved in today's stage of the event," Supt Kenny said.

"Their behaviour had the potential to seriously injure or kill someone."

© 2009 AAP

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