Loeb leading 2012 opener

Sebastian Loeb ends Day 1 of the 2012 Rallye Monte Carlo with a comfortable lead, but only after early, and indeed shock, leader Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out.

Loeb started the day with the by now traditional fastest time over SS1 up in the mountains of Valance. The very next stage turned the establishment on it's head. Ford make an excellent tyre choice with both Latvala and new-signing Petter Solberg, putting studded tyres on diagonally opposing wheels, and then doing the same with supersoft slicks. This stroke of genius launched Latvala into a half minute lead, and Solberg into third. Loeb make the same tyre choice, but instead ran with soft slicks, too hard for the conditions. Loeb could only take back 0.4 secs from Latvala during SS3, but then the rally fell apart for the young Finn.

SS4 was the final special of the day, a repeat run of the 30km Burzet – St. Martial test. The weather men suggested that snow and ice was predominant in the middle of the stage, and coming into a fast right-hander at the start of the snow, Latvala was concentrating on the conditions of the road. Crucially, the corner tightened sharply, and with no grip and little time to react, Latvala's Fiesta RS WRC went backwards off the road and down a 3 metre drop. With the car stuck on it's side and the Rally organisers electing not to run the Rally 2 rule (The new name for SupeRally as of 2012), Latvala's rally was over.

Most of the rest of the Top 10 have all been struggling with either problems, mistakes or were adapting to new cars. Dani Sordo moved into second at the end of the day, but had earlier bent his MINI's suspensions on SS2. An up-down day for Petter Solberg saw brilliant tyre choices marred by poor ones, but he ends in third, a single second behind Sordo.

Ogier's decision to sign for VW lead to him getting a full season in a Skoda Fabia S2000, and he was running very well in fourth, up against much faster machinery. Indeed, there is talk of Ogier being able to get his S2000 onto the podium, however talk is cheap. The next 4 days of tough stages will tell can he do the seemingly impossible, or will he fall short.

Evengey Novikov is running in a very strong fifth, highest 'independent' driver. Fastest over the pre-rally shakedown showed that it may be his first Rallye Monte Carlo, but it certainly won't mean he would be slow. He did say before the rally he would take it easy during the rally, focusing on the finish. During his year at the Citroen Junior team 3 years ago, or even as recent as the middle of last year, most would have written off this statement and expected his Fiesta RS WRC to be wrapped round a tree, buried in a wall or rolled into an unrecognisable ball of metal. Today's four stages are seeming to prove that he is maturing very rapidly, continuing his almost reformation on from last year.

Mikko Hirvonen, on his first event for Citroen, is running a lowly sixth. Struggling to adapt to his car, the conditions and managing to break a brake disc after clouting a wall on SS3. Francois Delecour, winner here almost 20 years ago also in a Ford, is driving well in seventh, on his first rally in 12 months and first World Rally in a WRC car for nearly a decade. Indeed, he has never driven one of the new-generation WRC cars up until now, though he has likened it's agility to his old Peugeot 206 WRC from his professional WRC career.

Pierre Campana, on his first event for the MINI WRT, is running down in 8^th, 4 mins off the lead. Campana is in Kris Meeke's place, after the Northern Irish driver was dropped in favour of a driver who could pay for their seat, owing to MINI's lack of a title sponsor. Meeke's dropping attracted untold amounts of criticism from many Irish and British supporters.

Ott Tanak is ninth in his Fiesta RS WRC, catching Campana rapidly. Tenth is S-WRC leader PG Andersson in the Proton Satria Neo S2000. S-WRC only had 3 entrants, but this fell to two after the other Proton of Giandomenico Basso crashed out. Craig Breen holds second in the poorly supported class, 4 mins down after a poor tyre choice and a puncture.