WRC Rally Catalunya: Sebastien Ogier wins opening stage
Sebastien Ogier opened Rally Catalunya with the fastest time on Thursday evening's Barcelona street stage
The already-crowned world champion beat Thierry Neuville to the fastest time by 2.1 seconds around the two-mile asphalt course, which included a mandatory doughnut around a post.
The under-pressure Neuville - who will be demoted to Hyundai's second-string team for the season finale in Wales next month - had looked set to take a morale boosting stage win as his 3m39.9s stood as the benchmark for a long spell.
Though ultimately pipped by Ogier, Neuville still hung on to second ahead of the champion's Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen and Kris Meeke in the leading Citroen.
Robert Kubica again showed strong asphalt form to go fifth-quickest.
With Friday's opening leg taking place on gravel before the rally returns to asphalt at the weekend, several drivers tried to 'scrub' as much tread as possible from spare gravel tyres on the morning shakedown to give them a better chance on the superspecial, while others were happy to lose a few seconds in Barcelona to prioritise the full-length stages.
Among those ending the night out of position was Jari-Matti Latvala in seventh in the third VW, while Elfyn Evans - runner-up in Corsica three weeks ago - was only 16th-quickest, behind the top WRC2 cars.
WRC2 championship leader Nasser Al-Attiyah managed to get into the top 10 overall, taking an asphalt-spec damper for the stage - confident he can return to a full gravel set-up in the 15-minute service before Friday morning's opener.
LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS1:
-Follow Rally Catalunya as it happens with Autosport Race Centre Live from 9am UK time on Friday morning
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Toyota selects Ogier for WRC’s visit to Croatia
Ogier proud of WRC Monte display after "rollercoaster of emotions"
Why Loeb v Ogier duel gave the WRC's new hybrid era the ideal start
WEC Imola: Fuoco completes Ferrari's practice sweep in red-flagged FP3
WRC Croatia: Neuville edges clear of Evans, Ogier in pursuit
Aston Martin protests F1 Chinese GP qualifying results after Sainz red flag crash
Ferrari F1 drivers split over China sprint race clash talks
How Rovanpera showed his class above his WRC rivals in Kenya
How a new 'old' challenge is capturing the spirit of British rallying lore
How Lappi survived Swedish snow carnage to snap his lengthy WRC drought
The new WRC highs Neuville reached to defeat Monte master Ogier
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments