World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier has enjoyed his first day back on tarmac as he took wins on seven of the eight stages contested at Rallye Deutschland.
He heads team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 9.5sec, while Andreas Mikkelsen completed a Volkswagen Polo R 1-2-3 a further 25.4sec back.
In an intriguing day on asphalt close to the Belgian border in the Mosel vineyards near Trier, the Frenchman won the first two stages but Latvala claimed the third and ended the morning a tenth of a second ahead.
However, he struck back after fine-tuning his car’s set-up and won all four afternoon tests to regain the initiative and pull clear.
“I had a great afternoon, it was really good fun. It’s a long time since I pushed so hard on asphalt. I found a better set-up for the afternoon, but Jari-Matt isn’t far behind so we have to keep going the same way tomorrow,” said Ogier.
Mikkelsen started cautiously but a string of third fastest times kept him ahead of Kris Meeke until a mistake from the Citroen driver handed the Norwegian breathing space.
Meeke was caught out by a patch of gravel in SS6 and slithered into a field. He regained the road but a broken front left strut cost more than nine minutes as he limped Citroën’s DS 3 through the rest of the day.
Hyundai team-mates Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville traded places on four occasions as they duelled for fourth. Third in the final stage for Sordo secured the place by 1.9sec, the only test when Volkswagen failed to lockout the top three.
Elfyn Evans was sixth in a Ford Fiesta RS despite an early handbrake issue, ahead of team-mate Ott Tänak who dropped 10sec after hitting gravel in a braking zone and understeering into a field.
Hayden Paddon was eighth, Mads Østberg gained confidence late in the day to hold ninth and Stéphane Lefebvre rounded off the leaderboard on his World Rally Car debut in a DS 3, despite a mistake at a penultimate stage chicane.
Robert Kubica started with a five minute penalty after an engine change following the shakedown. The Pole went off the road into the vines in the final stage, stopping shortly afterwards to kick out the damaged windscreen in his Fiesta RS.
Drives face a marathon day tomorrow with more than 13 hours behind the wheel and 170.79km of action. It includes five stages on the daunting Panzerplatte military roads at Baumholder.
VIDEO: Morning Stages
VIDEO: Afternoon Stages
POSITION: End of Leg 1 – Rallye Deutschland
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 1h19m13.5s |
| 2 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 9.5s |
| 3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen Motorsport II | Volkswagen | 34.9s |
| 4 | Dani Sordo | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 1m06.8s |
| 5 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 1m08.7s |
| 6 | Elfyn Evans | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 1m22.1s |
| 7 | Ott Tanak | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 1m27.8s |
| 8 | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai | 1m31.4s |
| 9 | Mads Ostberg | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 1m35.4s |
| 10 | Stephane Lefebvre | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 2m27.3s |
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