Loeb wins first leg

Reigning World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb produced a masterful second half of the day to lead the standings after leg one of the rally of Corsica.

Citroen Total WRT C4 driver Loeb was trailing championship leader Marcus Gronholm at the halfway point of the day’s six stages but turned it round on his favoured asphalt surface to end the day 4.8 seconds clear of the Finn in a total time of 59 minutes 29.7 seconds.

Loeb’s team-mate Daniel Sordo rounded out the top three a further 14 seconds back but Loeb insists that there is still a long way to go.

He said: “I pushed hard even though I didn’t feel very confident at the start of stage one.

“Marcus then went very well but there’s still a very long way to go.

“After Catalunya we know that the Fords are very quick: it’s set to be a good battle.”

The day got off to a dramatic start when the opening stage was cancelled due to spectator problems, but Gronholm was then commanding in setting the pace in his BP Ford Focus RS in both stage two and three.

Loeb then took the fourth stage before beating Gronholm again in the fifth to wrestle back his morning lead.

And the Frenchman then showed all his class to clock the fastest time in the day’s final stage to open up the near five-second gap at the top of the leaderboard.

Gronholm came into the 13th round with a six-point advantage over Loeb and was in stoic mood after witnessing the three-time champion power ahead of him.

He said: “I was attacking as hard as I could.

“The opening stage was a very demanding test for the tyres and the brakes.

“I was worried that we weren’t quick enough over the first half of so I pushed really hard over the second half but it wasn’t to be.”

British driver Matthew Wilson ended the day in a steady 13th position in his Stobart Ford Focus, some four minutes 3.2secs off the pace.

Day two sees the pack head north into twistier territory and Loeb will be hoping to move towards a third successive win on the island to keep his title hopes alive.