Gardemeister leads Ford challenge.

Toni Gardemeister leads the Ford challenge after the opening day of the Rally of Turkey having worked his way up to sixth place on a tough day of competition.

Gardemeister, who led Ford to a record-breaking 50th consecutive points finish on the previous round in Cyprus last month, recovered well after an uncertain start which saw the 30-year-old Finn end the opening group of two stages in ninth place.

However a string of top six times as the day progressed helped the Focus WRC move up the order to its overnight position.

"The first 20km of the opening stage were OK but I dropped time towards the end and I don't understand why," Gardemeister said. "The car felt too soft so I made the dampers harder and it handled much better on the next tests. The first stage of that next group was muddy like hell. I think I drove too aggressively and there was a lot of sliding into banks. It wasn't good. But the next two were quite dry. The times were better and I was happier.

"I lost quite a lot of time early this morning but I'm going to push hard and try to keep climbing the order. Much of the recce was completed in thick fog and so some of my pace notes were a bit strange when it was bright and sunny. It's difficult to judge distances in the fog and sometimes my estimates, and therefore my speed, were wrong. It's been a tough day also with the changeable conditions. I prefer it when the conditions are more consistent."

Team-mate Roman Kresta, competing in Turkey for the first time, continued with the cautious policy which has brought him points in the last two events and overcame three punctures during the day to end the day in ninth place - sandwiched by the two privateer Fords of Henning Solberg and Anthony Warmbold.

"It wasn't so easy to drive quickly when trying to learn the characteristics of the roads," Kresta said. "But they are really nice stages and I made no mistakes. This morning the gravel was quite loose, damp and slippery, but not muddy like it was during the recce. It was tricky when it rained this afternoon. The windscreen wipers were on all the time and the roads were slippery. Tomorrow I will try to keep the same steady pace - fast but not taking any risks."