Finland's Mikko Hirvonen took control of a chaotic first day at the Japan Rally on Friday after a serious crash involving Ford driver Francois Duval. Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who can secure his fifth world title in succession with a podium finish at the weekend, avoided trouble to end the day comfortably in third. Duval had just taken second place from team mate Jari-Matti Latvala when he smashed into a metal barrier during the sixth stage, causing substantial damage to his car. The Belgian's co-driver Patrick Pivato was injured in the crash and air-lifted to hospital after being pulled out of the mangled vehicle. Ford later said Pivato's injury was not serious but organizers were forced to cancel the rest of the stage to allow emergency services to attend the scene of the accident. Japanese organizers had already decided to cancel the following stage after snowfall earlier this week and stage eight was also called off amid the mayhem caused by Duval's crash. Matters were further complicated by timing glitches in the day's final super-specials at Sapporo Dome, the ninth and 10th timed stages, causing drivers to go out in the wrong order. Loeb initially refused to leave the time control to complete the second of these specials because of the confusion.
