Day 1: Loeb in charge

Only Loeb's new team-mate Francois Duval is inside a minute behind the Citroen star, and it seems clear that the Frenchman has already established a position he can defend from. And they said that the '05 Xsara wouldn't be as dominant this year...

"I have a very good feeling on this rally," Loeb said at the end of the day. "It's hard to drive Monte Carlo without taking risks. There is always ice or something on the road. You can see this when I had the spin on stage three."

Remarkably for the Monte, there was not a single leading retirement on the first day of the championship's most unpredictable event. This can be put down to the fact that the mountain roads remained dry and the ambient temperature was uncharacteristically high for the region. It allowed Loeb and Duval to opt for the softer, more predictable Michelin tyre, which given the Xsara's already high performance platform, allowed them to take advantage of their superiority over the field.

Duval, who was also caught out by snow thrown on to the road by spectators on SS3, had an extremely consistent run on his first day for his new team and set the second fastest time on each of the first day's four stages. The Belgian's performance ensures that he too has a comfortable 30s cushion over his nearest rival, Marcus Gronholm.

The Finn was happy with his third overall spot in the Peugeot 307, but admitted the team's switch to Pirelli tyres meant that there is still some work to do before he can challenge the Citroen duo. Nevertheless the double world champion took a stage win on SS2 and is aiming for a podium place should everything hold together for him.

Subaru had an eventful day. Caught out early-on by unexpected brake problems to both cars, former champion Petter Solberg did a fantastic job to drag his Impreza back up to fourth overall. In fact the final stage of the day, SS4, was the only one in which he was able to completely rely on his brakes. Team-mate Stephane Sarrazin had similar problems, and can be forgiven for a huge spin that cost him 25s on the last stage while he tried to make up time. The French former Formula 1 driver ended the day ninth.

Toni Gardemeister had good day for Ford. The Finn made no mistakes and balanced sensible pace with caution while he tried to extend his limited knowledge of the Focus WRC. The same could be said too of Peugeot's new signing Markko Martin. Although the Estonian was a championship contender for a while last year, his limited running in the Pirelli-shod 307 means that he is still learning the car. He finished leg one in sixth after a costly error at a hairpin on SS3.

Didier Auriol, the 1994 world champion, is this year's privateer interloper. The French veteran shone in a two-year-old Bozian-run Peugeot 206 WRC. Seventh overall so far, and ahead of six works cars, you get the sense he isn't quite finished yet... Gilles Panizzi is eighth after a day fighting paddleshift problems in the Mitsubishi Lancer, while Sarrazin and Ford's young 'rookie' Roman Kresta rounded out the top ten.

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen Xsara), 1h18m46.9s
Francois Duval (Citroen Xsara), 1h19m19.6s
Marcus Gronholm (Peugeot 307), 1h19m48.4s
Petter Solberg (Subaru Impreza), 1h20m14.6s
Toni Gardemeister (Ford Focus), 1h20m17.2s
Markko Martin (Peugeot 307), 1h20m26.0s
Didier Auriol (Peugeot 206), 1h20m48.8s
Gilles Panizzi (Mitsubishi Lancer), 1h20m50.3s
Stephane Sarrazin (Subaru Impreza), 1h21m02.0s
Roman Kresta (Ford Focus), 1h21m28.1s


Harri Rovanpera (Mitsubishi Lancer), 1h21m53.2s
Alexandre Bengue (Skoda Fabia), 1h22m11.1s
Armin Schwarz (Skoda Fabia), 1h23m34.8s
Antony Warmbold (Ford Focus), 1h25m03.3s