Citroën Total World Rally Team driver Sébastien Loeb heads the leaderboard at the end of the first day of ADAC Rallye Deutschland. The Frenchman won each of the stages run in their entirety and takes a 19.9 second advantage overnight. Second position has been closely fought between Mikko Hirvonen (BP Ford) and Dani Sordo (Citroën Total), with the Finnish Focus driver narrowly taking second position.

 

After last night’s ceremonial start in the centre of Trier, today’s route took in six stages and 108.16 competitive kilometres. Bumpy and narrow roads through the vineyards on the banks of the Mosel River awaited and while conditions remained dry, tyre choice proved difficult and few of the crews felt totally at ease with their choice of car set-up or tyre compound.

 

Loeb has a daunting record on Rallye Deutschland, having won the event each year it has run in the World Rally Championship since 2002. He has gradually extended his advantage throughout the day and looks comfortably in control of the field. Hirvonen has performed well in the Focus, on his less favoured surface, and pushed the Frenchman hard. However, sandwiched between two Citroën drivers renowned for their expertise on asphalt, the Finn needs to maintain the pressure.

 

François Duval, driving for the second time this season for the Stobart team, has eased himself in to the day, the Belgian having not driven a Focus competitively since Rally Monte-Carlo in January. He is 13.1 seconds adrift of Sordo, in fourth position. Jari-Matti Latvala (BP Ford) has maintained a safe pace after a disappointing result in Finland two weeks ago and he holds fifth, with a chasing Petter Solberg (Subaru) just 8.2 seconds behind. Team-mate Chris Atkinson ran as high as fifth but lost time this afternoon when he overshot a junction. He is seventh, just 2.2 seconds in front of Henning Solberg. The leading retirement of the day was Gigi Galli (Stobart Ford) who went off the road in the fifth stage. Both crew members were not seriously injured but the stage was cancelled.

 

ADAC Rallye Deutschland - Results after Day 1

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Dani Sordo/Marc Marti François Duval/Patrick Pivato Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud

Citroën C4 WRC Ford Focus RS WRC Citroën C4 WRC Ford Focus RS WRC Ford Focus RS WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 Ford Focus RS WRC

1 hr 00 min 22.5sec 1 hr 00 min 42.4sec 1 hr 00 min 48.1sec 1 hr 01 min 01.2sec 1 hr 01 min 18.2sec 1 hr 01 min 26.4sec 1 hr 01 min 56.5sec 1 hr 01 min 58.7sec

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