Loeb leads after opening evening

The champion's teammate Dani Sordo was fastest by three seconds in the opening stage, but four-time Monte Carlo winner Loeb overcame the Spaniard in SS2, completing the stage with a 12.7-second advantage.

"Dani really wants to win, so he's pushing very hard," said Loeb after SS2.

"The first stage was very tricky. There were a lot of places where there was ice so I was a bit careful. This one was more clean so I could push harder."

Citroen already have a commanding margin over their rivals, with third-placed Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen 44 seconds behind Loeb after just two stages.

"They are escaping now," Hirvonen admitted. "But it's still early in the rally and anything can happen."

Hirvonen has so far fared significantly better than his new teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, who became the first victim of the removal of anti-deflation systems, which are no longer permitted under the rules. The Ford driver lost four minutes when he had to stop to change a puncture in SS1.

"I just came too close to the rock wall, hit the rock, and immediately punctured," Latvala said. "We had a problem with the nut gun because the battery was flat, so that's what took the time. I have still quite a lot of work to do with my driving as well."

Chris Atkinson currently holds fourth for Subaru, 14 seconds behind Hirvonen, and 15 seconds ahead of the close battle between Stobart Ford's Francois Duval and Petter Solberg in the second works Subaru. The latter had a spin in SS1 but recovered quickly and has closed back to within a second of Duval.

Returnee Gigi Galli has made a cautious start to his first rally for Stobart Ford and runs seventh, 12 seconds behind Duval and Solberg.

Toni Gardemeister completes the top eight on his debut with the new Suzuki WRC, despite developing a clutch problem in SS2.

His teammate Per-Gunnar Andersson is in 12th position, behind local privateers Jean-Marie Cuoq and Frederic Romeyer, and Khalid Al Qassimi in the third factory Ford.

Leading positions after SS2:

Pos  Driver        Car      Time
 1.  Loeb          Citroen  23:38.4
 2.  Sordo         Citroen  +  12.7
 3.  Hirvonen      Ford     +  44.0
 4.  Atkinson      Subaru   +  58.6
 5.  Duval         Ford     +1:13.5
 6.  P Solberg     Subaru   +1:14.5
 7.  Galli         Ford     +1:26.1
 8.  Gardemeister  Suzuki   +1:53.1
 9.  Cuoq          Peugeot  +2:09.2
10.  Romeyer       Peugeot  +2:50.7