Gronholm dominates in the wet

The Ford driver - who must win this rally to take advantage of championship leader Sebastien Loeb's absence - stormed through the nine kilometre Kumluca 1 stage a remarkable 24.9 seconds quicker than the rest of the field.

Heavy rain and low cloud caused the cancellation of the first two stages as the medical helicopter could not be used in the conditions.

SS3 went ahead, and unsurprisingly proved very muddy and slippery.

Despite getting through the stage so much faster than his rivals, Gronholm still found the road extremely taxing.

"It could have been a little bit easier this rally," he said. "It's very, very difficult.

"I think it will feel like five days this rally."

Petter Solberg currently holds second. The conditions left him wide-eyed, especially as his choice of a hard tyre had proved less than ideal.

Stobart Ford privateer Kosti Katajamaki was one of the few drivers to really enjoy the stage.

"It's really exciting because it's so difficult," reported Katajamaki after completing SS3 in a superb third overall.

Colin McRae made a cautious start to his comeback rally, finishing SS3 in fifth place and admitting that it was hard to acclimatise to the Kronos Citroen in such weather.

"The conditions are atrocious, it's just impossible at the moment," said McRae.

Gronholm's teammate Mikko Hirvonen is in sixth place, and happy to let Gronholm sprint into the distance.

"Those conditions are unbelievable, but that's okay, we got through," said Hirvonen.

"It's changing all the time so you don't know where it's going to be slippery.

"I'm going to drive this pace, I don't care what speed anybody else does, I'm going to take it steady."

After losing both cars in the opening stage in Cyprus, Red Bull Skoda's tribulations continued in Turkey with Harri Rovanpera completing SS3 on three wheels.

But his teammate Andreas Aigner provided some cheer for the team by setting the seventh quickest time.

Leading times after SS3:

Pos  Driver      Make       Time
 1.  Gronholm    Ford     7:42.7
 2.  P Solberg   Subaru   + 24.9
 3.  Katajamaki  Ford     + 33.6
 4.  H Solberg   Peugeot  + 37.0
 5.  McRae       Citroen  + 37.9
 6.  Hirvonen    Ford     + 38.7
 7.  Aigner      Skoda    + 43.7
 8.  Pons        Citroen  + 43.9
 9.  Sordo       Citroen  + 45.5
10.  Duval       Skoda    + 46.2