Loeb leads after superspecial

The Citroen driver beat second-placed Petter Solberg (Subaru) by 0.7 seconds, with Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) third after a slight error.

Loeb believes he will face a much tougher time tomorrow, when he will be leading the field into the dusty and rocky stages.

"Tomorrow I'll be cleaning the road, but today was okay," he said. "It's a good start."

Visibility was a problem for the drivers in the 2.6 kilometre Antalya stage, with dust hanging in the air after the cars, although all the World Rally Car drivers had to deal with a similar degree of visual impairment as the unseeded and local competitors had already competed before the front-runners took the start.

Solberg was satisfied with his initial second place, despite being perturbed by the dust.

"So far, so good. It was very, very dusty - unbelievable," he said. "But it's a good start and now I can sleep a little better."

Jari-Matti Latvala was fourth in the second Ford, ahead of Loeb's Citroen teammate Dani Sordo and Solberg's Subaru teammate Chris Atkinson.

The rally gets underway in earnest tomorrow, with eight full-length stages scheduled for the first leg.

Leading positions after SS1:

Pos  Driver     Car      Time
 1.  Loeb       Citroen  2:07.6
 2.  P Solberg  Subaru    + 0.7
 3.  Hirvonen   Ford      + 1.1
 4.  Latvala    Ford      + 2.3
 5.  Sordo      Citroen   + 2.9
 6.  Atkinson   Subaru    + 3.7
 7.  Villagra   Ford      + 4.0
 8.  Mikkelsen  Ford      + 4.0
 9.  Galli      Ford      + 4.9
10.  H Solberg  Ford      + 4.9