Day 1: Loeb out in front

Conditions in the afternoon improved significantly from the morning when many of the drivers complained that the stages were slippery and at times 'undriveable'. Tyre choice became crucial with Citroen's Loeb and Sainz calling the right shots on the softer Michelin rubber while others like Duval, Petter Solberg and Markko Martin opted for the medium compounds. Duval, though, reportedly has a heavier cut pattern, which has enabled him to keep reasonably close to the Citroen duo.

Loeb went into the final four stages of the day with a tight lead of just 3.5s over Duval with Sainz 15s off the pace in third and Solberg a hefty 44s off the Frenchman. At the end of SS8 - the final stage of the day - Loeb has extended his lead to 26s after taking four consecutive wins in the afternoon to add to his stage win on SS4.

Duval, who along with Sainz seemed the only driver capable of causing trouble for Loeb, hit trouble on SS5 and dropped 17s to the Frenchman losing his overall second position to Sainz. The Belgian fell back further on SS7 losing 24s to Loeb as it was revealed he was struggling with gearchange and a resultant lack of a handbrake, a severe handicap on these tight and twisty stages. He has held onto his third spot overall but is now a massive 58s behind Loeb and trails Sainz by 32s.

"This morning was fantastic and I set some excellent times," he said. "But this afternoon was hard because the hairpins in the vineyards are so tight that you have to use the handbrake to get round them. I had to reverse to get round hairpins six times and stalled the car three times. I think I lost about a minute."

Duval's demise was Solberg's gain though, as the Norwegian gradually reels the Belgian in. What had been a 40s gap to the Ford driver is now at 12s and with his championship rival Loeb out in front Solberg needs to score as many points as he can. The Norwegian remains confident for tomorrow though.

"There were no dramas today, and everything was as I had hoped, except for the tyre choices," said Solberg. "We didn't have the best morning, and we'd hoped for a little more rain this afternoon. Maybe, if we'd chosen a harder compound we'd be fighting for some top times. But I'm driving well, the car feels good on the asphalt and I'm pleased with its performance. We'll continue to fine-tune the settings tomorrow, and hope to set some good times."

Should he not catch Duval, Solberg's fourth place is not likely to be threatened for Ford's Markko Martin is 50s down on the Norwegian after a torrid first day. The Estonian dropped bags of time on the first two stages and has been trying to claw his way back up the order ever since. He now lies fifth overall but is an agonising 2 minutes behind Loeb.

Mitsubishi's Gilles Panizzi is showing the same impressive form on the asphalt as he did with former team Peugeot to put the Lancer in sixth place overall just 12s adrift of Martin. Skoda's Roman Kresta has dropped to seventh overall after running as high as fifth following SS6. Panizzi is just 1s ahead of the Czech though so all is not lost.

French Peugeot 206 privateer Alex Bengue ended the day in a points-scoring eighth place, ahead of the works Peugeot team's nominated points scorer, Cedric Robert, in the lead 307.

Peugeot team-mate Marcus Gronholm had barely started his rally before it came to a premature end. The Finn spun his 307 at the first corner on the opening stage of Leg 1 losing a wheel in the process and forcing him out of the rally (Click HERE for separate story).