End of Day 1: Driver quotes/team news

Multiple World Champion Tommi Makinen fell into one of the above categories and he eased his Mitsubishi into the lead of the event by 12.3s over Oxford's Richard Burns.

Burns had opted for the cautious approach and despite having the assistance of studded tyres for the final two stages (until then everyone had been running some form of 'dry' racing tyre) was unwilling to risk a potentially superb start to his championship campaign.

Aside from Makinen, none of the leading crews were really happy with their performance over the final two stages into Gap but all were relieved to have completed the task without major drama.

Colin McRae ended the day seventh after surviving a minor scare when the steering rack of the Ford Racing Focus came loose on SS3.

'I didn't tell Nicky (co-driver Nicky Grist) in case it scared him!' said McRae.

'I don't think he even noticed.'

Makinen, Burns and Peugeot's Gilles Panizzi were carving their own battle at the head of the field and no other driver set a fastest time during the day.

A shade over 30seconds covered the trio but fourth placed Carlos Sainz was already more than a minute adrift of this battle for the podium places.

'There is nothing wrong with the car,' he said, 'it's just that you never drive as fast in testing as in the rally and I'm taking time to learn about the car.'

The other Toyota refugee, Didier Auriol - like Sainz forced to find a new team after Toyota pulled out at the end of 1999 - was on course for a top 10 place overnight but slid down the order on the final stage when he spun and stalled the engine.

In trying to restart the car he managed to hit a button on the dashboard that altered the differential settings and made the car impossible to drive.

Details from the teams:

Subaru
Richard Burns knew that this event would be the toughest of the Championship given his lack of detailed knowledge compared to his rivals but his early pace showed that he fears nothing at present.

Nevertheless he was fortunate to escape a half spin on the black ice at the end of SS2, helpless as the Impreza slid backwards into a barrier.

'The last two years haven't been so easy because I haven't had the right ice notes, he said.

'The information has been much better this year and I've just wanted to see what I could do.'

Burns took the lead of the event on the second stage and posted fastest time on SS3 to ease further ahead.

His team mate Juha Kankkunen had a slower start because of tyre choice.

'There was only one set of soft tyres available so Richard had those and I had to use ones that
were too hard.'

Peugeot
Gilles Panizzi took first blood of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship, setting fastest time on the opening stage. However he then hit a bank on black ice at the end of SS2 at just 10kph and needed repairs to his rear suspension.

He also said that he didn't feel his engine was as good as the one in the test car.

Panizzi's team mate Francois Delecour is battling against the debilitating effects of food poisoning while the third Peugeot driver, Marcus Gronholm, has suffered mechanical problems.

The car's centre differential lost hydraulic pressure and then the team had to change the gearbox after it lost second gear during SS2.

Mitsubishi
Reigning four-times FIA World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen got off to a bad start when he suffered tyre vibrations for 10km during the first stage.

'The vibration was in the front left tyre and was caused by the anti-deflation mousse. We had to slow down a bit. It's very early in the event.'

Afterwards, however, he was able to join the lead battle with fastest time on the second stage.

His Belgian team mate, Freddy Loix opted for a cautious start because he had crashed out on SS1 last year and still lacks detailed knowledge of the stages compared to his fellow competitors.

'It's been a 'medium' day for me,' he said.

'My car is fine but my times haven't been so good because I've got too much information in my notes and
it's confusing.'

Ford
Carlos Sainz's return to the Ford team was marked by a cautious start thanks to lack of confidence in his brakes over the early stages.

'We don't have any technical problems,' he said, 'it's just that I'm still learning about the car. In testing you don't drive as fast as on a rally so it's quite hard for me at the moment to know the limits of the car.'

His team-mate Colin McRae was unable to compensate while Sainz learned about the Focus as his car wasn't handling to his liking.

He changed to harder suspension and softer tyres at the service point before SS3 but this proved to be the wrong option and the alterations were reversed for the final two stages.

The Scot also felt that his car's steering rack was a little loose before the stage.

'I wasn't scared about that," joked co-driver Nicky Grist.

'Colin didn't tell me about it!'

McRae said, 'You can go quite fast on this event but only if you're prepared to take big risks with the ice.'

SEAT
Communications problems affected the confidence of the two SEAT crews over the second stage when they had to compete without vital up to date information about the road conditions.

'They knew that there was black ice on the stage but didn't know where it was,' explained a team spokesman.

Didier Auriol changed a broken rear differential after SS2.

The Frenchman is using a mechanical rear differential while his Finnish team mate Toni
Gardemeister has an electronic version.

'I used too hard tyres for the first two stages but it's better now,' said Gardemeister.

'I'm surprised to be quicker than Didier on this event, I expected it to be the other way
round.'

Skoda
Armin Schwarz twice broke the pipe between the turbo and intercooler on SS1+2.

The German, who is also a renowned mechanic, fixed the first problem himself between stages but it broke again.

Since then he has suffered an electronic problem which makes it impossible to start the car unless it is in 'road' settings, rather than in 'stage' setting and even then it will only run on three cylinders.

New Spanish team mate Luis Climent hit a bank at the end of SS2 and at the end of the stage his rear bumper was resting on the exhaust and caught fire.

He subsequently lost 2 minutes off the road on SS3.

Other teams
Bruno Thiry got off to a flying start on his first drive with the Grifone Toyota team but then opted for a cautious approach to the icy SS2 and was later delayed when he caught Climent on SS3 after the Skoda driver had crashed (see above).

Reigning four-times FIA Production Cup Champion Gustavo Trelles suffered brake problems on SS1 and the Group N category is currently being led by Germany's Uwe Nittel.