By ROUFAN NAHHAS
Associated Press Writer
SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan (AP) Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland powered into the lead on the first day of the Jordan Rally.
Latvala won three of the day's seven stages in the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship to take a commanding 30.2-second advantage into day two.
The Ford driver finished Thursday in a total time of one hour, 11 minutes, 31.5 seconds, with Citroen's Sebastien Ogier in second place.
Defending world champion Sebastien Loeb of France struggled in the opening six stages but won the seventh Mount Nebo 2 to go third overall in 1:12:03.3.
``I tried to push on in the last stage to get some time back, but I was relying on what the others did to determine my starting position for Friday,'' Loeb said.
Norway's Petter Solberg and Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, the winner of the Jordan Rally in 2008, completed the top five.
Poland's Michal Kosciuszko led the FIA Super 2000 WRC in his Skoda Fabia S2000 until the final stage, when his demise left Bernardo Sousa's Ford Fiesta S2000 in front.
Sweden's Patrik Flodin was the early pacesetter in the FIA Production World Rally Championship after a battle with Martin Semerad and defending champion Armindo Araujo.
Thursday's route took in seven special stages over around 96 kilometers that most drivers labeled as ``very slippery.''
Friday crews will tackle six special stages and a total of 138.28 kilometers, but two of those runs are through the harsh 41.45km Jordan River stage
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