Unstoppable Sebastien Loeb will enter day two of his country’s WRC round of the championship with a 13.1sec lead.
The nine-times WRC champ won four of the eight all-tarmac stages with Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala claiming three stage wins.
“It’s been a good day with no problems at all,” Loeb said.
Loeb said his Citroen team had chosen the right tyre compounds but conceded that he has had to push following the charge by Latvala.
Finn Latvala said his day had been a bit inconsistent but he recognises that he remains in with a decent fight.
“We’re still a bit up and down and not as consistent as it should be,” Latvala said.
“But we are still in the right and it’s still going on.”
Citroen driver Mikko Hirvonen remains behind Latvala and is less than a second ahead of another Ford driver Petter Solberg in the fight for third.
MINI John Cooper Works WRC driver Dani Sordo was hobbled by set-up and brake problems and is fifth outright.
WRC Team MINI Portugal driver Chris Atkinson lost 10th spot to Sebastien Chardonnet (Citroen DS3 WRC) on stage five.
TOP 10 AFTER DAY ONE OF RALLY FRANCE
|
1 |
Sebastien Loeb |
Citroen |
1h17m32.6s |
|
2 |
Jari-Matti Latvala |
Ford |
+13.1s |
|
3 |
Mikko Hirvonen |
Citroen |
+32.6s |
|
4 |
Petter Solberg |
Ford |
33.3s |
|
5 |
Dani Sordo |
Prodrive Mini |
+48.8s |
|
6 |
Thierry Neuville |
Citroen Junior |
+55.4s |
|
7 |
Mads Ostberg |
Adapta Ford |
+1m00.3s |
|
8 |
Ott Tanak |
M-Sport Ford |
+1m22.4s |
|
9 |
Evgeny Novikov |
M-Sport Ford |
+1m35.9s |
|
10 |
Sebastien Chardonnet |
FFSA Citroen |
+2m51.0s |
