Rally Italy: Sebastien Ogier dominates opening morning
Sebastien Ogier dominated the opening morning of Rally Italy, quickly establishing a 20-second lead
The Volkswagen driver won two of the morning's three stages as he pulled away from Mikko Hirvonen's Citroen.
Ogier's VW team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala could in theory be right on the championship leader's tail, having won SS2 and been just 0.3 seconds slower than the Frenchman on SS3.
But a puncture for Latvala on SS1 means he is 1m55s back in seventh overall.
M-Sport Ford's Evgeny Novikov initially challenged Hirvonen for second, only to roll out near the start of the second stage.
His team-mate Mads Ostberg then took up the chase, completing the loop just 4.4s behind Hirvonen.
The second Citroen of Dani Sordo is another 7.3s back in fourth, with Thierry Neuville a further 8.1s adrift for M-Sport after a spin on SS3.
Robert Kubica holds a commanding 50s lead in WRC2, despite a high-speed spin on the last stage of the morning.
Leading positions after SS3: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier VW 39m58.6s 2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 20.5s 3. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford + 24.9s 4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 32.2s 5. Thierry Neuville M-Sport Ford + 40.3s 6. Andreas Mikkelsen VW + 55.7s 7. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 1m54.5s 8. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 2m35.1s 9. Michal Kosciuszko Lotos Ford + 2m53.7s 10. Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford + 3m02.8s
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