Ogier wants to keep lead into day two

While the fast Turkish stages around Istanbul aren't covered in as much gravel as the Middle East roads on the Jordan Rally earlier this month, they are cleaning in sections. Despite that, Ogier said he wants to lead the rally and run first on the road tomorrow.

"I think this [the lead] is the nice place for tonight," said Ogier. "I don't think there would be any problem for tomorrow. It can be a good place to be in the lead, if I can make it.

"There are some tarmac sections on tomorrow's road [which won't clean] and also, when you are running further down the field, there is the chance of some rocks being pulled out and into the road."

Current WRC leader Sebastien Loeb ran first on the road this morning and the Citroen driver admitted he hadn't suffered too much.

"It wasn't so bad," said the six-time champion. "In some sections there has been more gravel, in stage two there was a bit more and the road was a bit twistier. But in some sections the gravel is really quite deep and it's just not cleaning, it will stay there for everybody."

Ford's leading driver, in third place just three seconds behind Ogier, Mikko Hirvonen said: "Maybe Sebastien's right and the lead is a good place, we'll see. It hasn't cleaned so much today and maybe that's what it will be like tomorrow. Will we see tactics tonight? I don't know."