RallyRACC - Rally de Espana: Day 1 review

Citroen's Sebastian Loeb seems well on his way to picking up yet another RallyRACC-Rally de Espana, ending Day 1 with a 30 sec lead over his nearest pursuer, Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala.

“It’s been a very hard day. Luckily I had a bit of dust on the first stage but in the afternoon the road has been really difficult and I should have lost much more time.” said the seven times World Champion.

Loeb got the rally off to the perfect start, taking a 7.1 sec lead over Latvala after the first stage. The usual disadvantage of running first on the road was less of a worry for Loeb after the first stage, with rivals reporting major visibility reduction due to hanging dust, even with an interval of 3 mins between cars, rather than the usual two. Hanging dust was less of a problem on SS2, thanks to a breeze, but Loeb extended his lead over Latvala to 8.9 secs. Latvala snatched 3.6 secs back out of Loeb on the very next stage, before the crews returned to service.

Latvala came out of service on an absolute flyer, taking 3.9 secs out of his nearest challenger on the stage Sebastian Ogier, and an amazing 13.3 secs out of Loeb, who cited lack of consistent grip. Latvala's advantage went up to 16 secs after managing his tyres well on the tarmac section of SS5, something Loeb didn't do. On SS6, the very dusty night stage, Latvala's charge was dealt a devastating blow, when he first spun at the first corner, then suffered a puncture. Loeb won the stage by 9 secs over team-mate Ogier, giving himself a half-minute lead overnight.

Championship contender Mikko Hirvonen is third overnight, having had a fairly uneventful day. Losing time over the first stage due to the dust causing him to be too cautious was the only major problem for the Finn, who is 54.2 secs behind Loeb. Loeb's team-mate Ogier took third place from Hirvonen on SS2, but lost the advantage on SS5 with a puncture, which he dropped 2 mins changing. He sits fourth now, 1 min 45 secs behind leader Loeb and only 17 secs ahead of local hero Dani Sordo.

MINI-mounted Sordo struggled through SS1 due to the dust, and had an intercom glitch on SS5, dropping further time. Team boss Dave Richards said it may prove difficult for Sordo to make up the lost time, saying the time loss has “taken the wind out of his sails”. 50.1 secs behind his team-mate is Kris Meeke, who also suffered in the dust, except his car filled with it, causing even more visibility problems, as well as breathing problems. Meeke earlier in the day questioned the idea of running the night stage, with the added problem of the spotlights on the cars reflecting the dust, blinding the driver.

Lying 7^th and 8^th overnight, Stobart drivers Mads Ostberg and Henning Solberg have both been having their own problems. Ostberg has been suffering from differential problems today, while Solberg has had to deal with an intercom gremlin, which became a relentless problem throughout the day. Ostberg is 3 mins 3 secs off the pace, whilst Solberg is a further 8.5 secs behind.

Evegney Novikov, who is making his Citroen DS3 WRC début, is 9^th overall, whilst Matthew Wilson, in the other Stobart Fiesta is 10^th, over 5 mins off the lead.

Two big names to be taken out on the first stage were Petter Solberg and Ken Block. Solberg, a pre-event favourite, caught a drainage culvert on SS1, tearing a wheel off his DS3. Block hit the same culvert, breaking the steering in his Monster Fiesta WRC. Solberg and co-driver Chris Patterson were able to warn other crews of the danger, building up some stones in front of the offending culvert, helping warn other crews. Ever the optimists of the service park, Patterson says he, Solberg and the rest of the PSWRT team won't give up, and may return tomorrow.

Nasser Al-Attiyah leads S-WRC overnight, with Juho Hanninen in second, and Craig Breen in third, the top three being separated by only 24.6 secs. Ott Tanak, who was expected to be fighting for S-WRC honours, went out on SS1, while Bernardo Sousa had been having brake problems and Karl Kruuda broke the cross-member on a rock on SS1

“It’s been very hard finding the right pace and the right consistency after Tanak stopped. You can’t take risks because you can make a mistake but you can’t not push completely because you lose the rhythm. We are trying to stay focused.” said Hanninen, who seems to be on his way to the S-WRC crown.

P-WRC is being lead by Patrick Flodin, who, despite his Subaru dropping onto 3 cylinders on SS6, commands a 35.9 sec lead over Michal Kosciuszko. Kosciuszko reported smashing a rear window against a tree on the day's second stage, which let a lot of dust into the car. Benito Guerra holds third, 4 mins 14.6 secs off the lead. 2011 P-WRC Champion Hayden Paddon failed to make the first stage, electrical problems stopping his Subaru. Production Champion Harry Hunt crashed out in the afternoon, after crashing in Shakedown prior to the rally.