Canada WRX: Solberg on top after Saturday's running

A spin in practice didn’t stop Solberg setting the fastest time in Free Practice at the famous Trois-Rivieres circuit, before he won the last race of Q1 despite being unable to select fifth gear in his Citroen DS3 on the longest straight of the year.

The double World RX champion then led from lights-to-flag in Q2 to head the overnight standings.

Second is World RX Team Austria driver Timur Timerzyanov, the Russian twice second fastest in Q1 and Q2, his Ford Fiesta using a similar Pipo-built engine to that in Solberg’s DS3.

“I broke the gearbox this morning, we were lucky that we got the victory there I think,” said Solberg. “It’s been good, good fun. It’s hard though; Timur is fast though, so we will see [on Sunday].

"We have been analysing a lot lately and made some different parts which I have not tested before this race, but they seem to be working in the right direction. I think a lot of the performance is coming from what we found out.”

Andreas Bakkerud is third at the end of day one in his Ford Focus, while nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb is fourth overall.

The Frenchman passed Peugeot-Hansen team mate Timmy Hansen to finish second to Solberg on track in Q1 and then won his Q2 race.

Hansen is 13th overnight and currently outside the semi-final qualifying positions after spinning his Peugeot 208 and then retiring from his race with suspension damage.

Championship leader Mattias Ekstrom was second to title-rival Solberg in practice and led his Q1 race but was slowed by a right-front puncture.

Regardless he held onto the coat-tails of Janis Baumanis in the race and set 12th time. Fourth fastest in Q2 elevated him to seventh overall, one place behind his Finnish team mate, Toomas Heikkinen.

Volkswagen RX Sweden drivers Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund sandwich the EKS RX pair, while Kevin Eriksson is top OlsbergsMSE driver in ninth.

The Swede admitted to feeling more comfortable in the team’s Fiesta than he has in recent events, but was hampered by a slow start in his Q2 race and set 11th time, one place behind team mate Niclas Gronholm, who is 12th overall.

Ken Block and Janis Baumanis lie between Eriksson and Gronholm in the standings and complete the list of drivers inside the top 12.

Munnich Motorsport’s Reinis Nitiss suffered from a loss of power with his Seat Ibiza in Q1 and is 15th overall behind team owner Rene Munnich, while privateer Robin Larsson was disqualified from Q1 after contact with Munnich and is 16th.