The World champion Sebastien Loeb slipped to a sixth place finish on the first leg of the Rally of Japan, almost a minute behind leader Petter Solberg.
Norway's Solberg shrugged off a fever to open up almost a 10 second lead in his privately-run Citroen over Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, who completed a pacey afternoon finish to leap from fourth to second place.
Frenchman Loeb, who is searching for his seventh consecutive world title, leads the standings by 58 points but endured a difficult day after a broken front-left damper hurt his pace.
Loeb's Citroen team mate Sebastien Ogier, second in the overall standings, finished the day in third with Jari-Matti Latvala of Ford in fourth.