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Loeb leads WRC Rally Italy after day one

At the end of the opening day of competition in Rally Italia Sardegna, reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb heads the leader-board ahead of Norwegian Petter Solberg. Mikko Hirvonen holds third overnight.

The fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship got underway last night with a ceremonial start in Olbia, but the action started in earnest this morning when the crews headed south for two loops of four stages covering 131.06 competitive kilometres. And, with only a 15 minute remote service separating the two loops, caution had to be exercised as any problems picked up during the morning would largely have to be carried throughout the day.
 
Running first on the road as Championship leader, Loeb’s position was far from ideal and the Frenchman was a lowly eighth in the opening stage, but by the end of the first loop was leading Hirvonen by 2.7 seconds. This afternoon Loeb has continued to run without problems and heads the leaderboard with a healthy 33.2 second lead. Solberg had been running well until a turbo pipe worked loose in the second stage, losing him nearly 40 seconds. He has however climbed the leaderboard to overnight 33.2 seconds behind Loeb, gaining one place when Sébastien Ogier tactically dropped to fourth in the final test. Similarly, Hirvonen – one of the early leaders – ran for most of the day in second position until losing time in the penultimate stage with a puncture. He overnights third, just a handful of seconds ahead of Ogier.
 
Mads Ostberg is fifth after the opening day, having run without problems, while Dani Sordo is flying the flag for MINI on the debut competitive outing of the John Cooper Works WRC. The Spaniard has taken a cautious approach to today’s tricky opening leg and overnights in sixth. His team-mate Kris Meeke was forced onto the side lines when a possible brake problem saw him go off the road. Other leading retirements from the day include Jari-Matti Latvala. The Finn hit a wall in the opening stage and the accident damage forced him out on the second stage. Evgeny Novikov ran as high as third before rolling this afternoon, and Federico Villagra hit a bridge and took a wheel off the car.
 
Leaderboard after Day 1
1, S Loeb/D Elena (FRA) Citroen DS3, 1hr 27min 47.0sec
2, P Solberg/C Patterson (NOR) Citroen DS3, 1hr 28min 20.2sec
3, M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen (FIN) Ford Fiesta RS, 1hr 28min 40.1sec
4, S Ogier/J Ingrassia (FRA) Citroen DS3, 1hr 28min 42.5sec
5, M Østberg/J Andersson (NOR) Ford Fiesta RS, 1hr 28min 51.7sec
6, D Sordo/C Del Barrio (ESP) Mini John Cooper, 1hr 29min 20.2sec
7, O Tanak/K Sikk (EST) Ford Fiesta S2000, 1hr 30min 23.0sec
8, M Wilson/S Martin (GBR) Ford Fiesta RS,  1hr 30min 41.5sec
9, M Prokop/J Tomanek (CZE) Ford Fiesta S2000, 1hr 30min 48.7sec
10, J Hanninen/M Markkula (FIN) Skoda Fabia S2000, 1hr 31min 06.8sec