Leg 1: Peugeot 1-2-3

Panizzi started the day strongly and won the first four stages to establish a commanding lead. However, it started raining just before the final stage and he lost 14 seconds to inspired stage winner Gronholm. This reduced the Frenchman's overall lead to just three seconds over the 2000 world champion.

Richard Burns' quest for a top three finish was helped when Petter Solberg spun on stage four. The Subaru hit a bank and knocked his wheels out of line for the remainder of the stage. He had been in third when the incident took place. It cost him almost a minute and dropped him to sixth.

Four-times champion Tommi Makinen is the top non-Peugeot, the Finn producing a solid performance to take fourth spot. However, he's almost 40 seconds behind the leader. Carlos Sainz survived a puncture on SS3 to keep up his challenge in fifth.

Colin McRae was fifth fastest in wet on the final stage as his Pirelli tyres came to the fore. This kept him in the hunt for a top six finish - he's just three seconds down on Solberg in seventh. Aside from second place on SS3 it was a disappointing day for Citroen's Philippe Bugalski. Like Panizzi he struggled in the wet, and the leading privateer entry has it all to do tomorrow from eighth place.

Armin Schwarz demonstrated the potential of the new Hyundai by setting the fourth quickest time through SS5. However, Freddy Loix is the leading Accent runner in the overall standings, one place ahead of his team-mate in 14th. Mitsubishi have had a low-key event so far, with Francois Delacour and Alister McRae making little impression on the leader board. The French veteran lies 11th overall, McRae is back in 18th struggling with his brakes. Toni Gardemeister is the leading Skoda in 17th.


Gilles Panizzi Peugeot 1h02m28.5s
Marcus Gronholm Peugeot +3.0s
Richard Burns Peugeot +25.1s
Tommi Makinen Subaru +39.3s
Carlos Sainz Ford +49.4s
Petter Solberg Subaru +1m00.5s

For full rally live timings, click here.

For rally itinerary, click here.

For full entry list, click here.