Freddy Loix takes Sanremo lead on night stage

BFO Skoda driver Loix had gone onto the stage four seconds behind leader Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda UK), but was quickest through by 7.2s, giving him a 2.7s advantage over his Norwegian rival going into day two. Six stages during daytime tomorrow will decide the rally.

The pair have broken away slightly from the rest of the field as Kronos Peugeot's Thierry Neuville lost time on the stage nursing a brake problem. He remains third, but is now 16.6s off the lead, having started Ronde less than a second behind Loix, and is only 1.2s ahead of Bryan Bouffier (PH Peugeot).

Points leader Jan Kopecky is still fifth, now 34s off the lead, although the Skoda team leader has pulled out a bit of breathing space over pursuers Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot Portugal) and Umberto Scandola (Car Racing Ford).

After losing time with a spin and stall this afternoon, Giandomenico Basso dropped out of the top 10 completely in the remaining Proton when an intercom failure led to him going off the road and losing four minutes. His team-mate Chris Atkinson retired on SS1.

Leading positions after SS7:

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Freddy Loix        BFO Skoda             1h17m49.7s
 2.  Andreas Mikkelsen  Skoda UK                  + 2.7s
 3.  Thierry Neuville   Kronos/Peugeot Belux     + 16.6s
 4.  Bryan Bouffier     PH/Peugeot France        + 17.8s
 5.  Jan Kopecky        Skoda                    + 34.2s
 6.  Bruno Magalhaes    Peugeot Portugal         + 39.2s
 7.  Umberto Scandola   Car Ford                 + 47.1s
 8.  Alessandro Perico  PA Peugeot             + 2m39.9s
 9.  Pierre Campana     Munaretto Peugeot      + 2m40.3s
10.  Toni Gardemeister  TGS Skoda              + 3m35.9s