Paolo Andreucci holds a lead of 7.4 secs over second placed Kris Meeke. Juho Hanninen is 3.9 secs behind the defending IRC Champion with team-mate Jan Kopecky fourth, 41.2 secs off the lead.
One of the pre-event favourites Guy Wilks survived a big crash on SS1 with the car coming to rest 40 metres off the road. Guy suffered two broken veterbrae in his lower back (follow this link to see the more detailed story).
Team Belguim-Luxembourg driver Theirry Neuville completed Day 1 unscathed in his Peugeot S2000 in his debut event in the IRC.
WRC rising star Sebastian Ogier retired on the Monte Grighine stage with overheating problems in his 207 S2000 after collecting a puncture.
“It was a fast section near the start where we had the puncture,” said Ogier. “I went over a bit of grass and realised these tyres are less resistant [to punctures] than the tyres we have in the World Rally Championship. It was not a big problem but seven kilometres before the end we had an alarm about the engine temperature and we stopped. We tried to check the problem with the cooling of the engine but realised it was impossible to fix on the stage because we had no more water in the engine. I don’t think [we will restart] tomorrow, besides there is no reason. This is rally, it’s a mechanical sport and it can be frustrating. It’s a bad feeling to finish the rally before end of first stage.” he said.
P-G Andersson has clawed his way back up to seventh after a puncture early on in the day in the JRM Sport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.
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