Marcus Gronholm took an early lead when the Rally of Italy began in Sardinia today.

The Ford driver, second in the world championship, won the first two stages to quickly establish a handy 20.5-second advantage over the chasing pack.

His team-mate Mikko Hirvonen gave Ford the perfect start by moving into second spot, demoting Subaru's Chris Atkinson to third on stage two.

World champion Sebastien Loeb suffered as the first man out on the dusty stages and the Citroen driver was down in fourth after two stages, half a minute shy of Gronholm.

Banbury Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg defied a spin to lie fifth, with Xavier Pons' Citroen sixth and Henning Solberg's Peugeot seventh. Citroen youngster Dani Sordo is eighth.

English rookie Matthew Wilson suffered a nightmare start to the rally after his history-making feat in Argentina last time out.

The Stobart Ford driver became the youngest world champion points scorer but was brought back down to earth by a one-minute penalty for an engine change before today's action even began.

When it did matters did not improve and he hit a rock, damaging his suspension.

Wilson said: "It wasn't even one kilometre into the stage, we were at this right hand junction and at the next left the car felt like it had hit a rock."