SS2B, Rezzo 1: Panizzi again

Originally scheduled to be one long stage, but split into SS2 and SS2B after road repairs failed to be completed in time, Panizzi, who won this event last year, stopped the clocks at 9m12.4s on the 12.29km stage, ahead of team mates Marcus Gronholm and Didier Auriol.

French car giant PSA, which owns both Peugeot and WRC rivals Citroen, will be smiling broadly after Rezzo 1, as its cars held the top five positions on the stage, with Citroen drivers Philippe Buglaski and Jesus Puras in fourth and fifth.

After almost 50km of competitive sections gone thus far, Puras has less than two seconds over Panizzi in the battle for the lead overall, with the two other Peugeot drivers, Gronholm and Aruiol, lying back in third and fourth on the leaderboard.

Sixth fastest through Rezzo 1 was Ford's Francois Delecour followed by his team mate Carlos Sainz, who retains his fifth place overall.

Sebastien Loeb continues his good run of form - eighth on the stage and sixth overall. Meanwhile local hero Renato Travaglia - driving a Peugeot 206 WRC - popped up with the ninth fastest time.

Subaru are not enjoying the best of starts to Sanremo. With lead driver Richard Burns already out, young guns Petter Solberg and Markko Martin are left to carry the flag for the team. Estonian Martin was 10th on Rezzo and holds ninth overall.

Championship leaders Colin McRae and Tommi Makinen lie in 12th and 14th overall, with McRae now over 35 seconds behind pace-setter Puras.

For SS2B Rezzo 1 results, click here.

For full live timings table click here.

For full entry list click here.

For the itinerary click here.