Jari-Matti Latvala’s hopes of securing his first asphalt rally victory got off to a great start on the opening day of Rallye de France Alsace and the Finn heads the field by 8.2 seconds after 114.75 competitive kilometres. Volkswagen stable-mate Andreas Mikkelsen is having a strong run in second position and Kris Meeke is provisionally third for Citroën. Championship leader Sébastien Ogier has had a devastating day and the Frenchman’s bid to secure the world title on his home round has, realistically, disappeared.

 

Rallye de France officially got underway last night with its ceremonial start in Strasbourg, however it was not until today that the competitive action got underway. Two loops of three stages lay in wait before the crews returned to the city for the short 4.67 kilometre Strasbourg super special stage. The day has been dominated by Latvala and Mikkelsen, the Finn taking the early advantage before being overhauled by the Norwegian after the second stage. After that, Latvala regained the lead and headed the field for the remainder of the day, extending the gap to Mikkelsen stage by stage. While Kris Meeke has been unable to match the pace of the Polo R WRC, he has nevertheless pulled ahead of his rivals, opening a 28.1 second gap to fourth-placed Dani Sordo who heads Hyundai’s challenge. The Spaniard - who won the final super special stage - is far from safe, however, and heads four drivers who are split by 13.5 seconds; Mads Østberg is 10.7 seconds adrift, despite a transmission problem in the second loop of stages, and Mikko Hirvonen and Robert Kubica are hot on his heels too. Hirvonen fared better this afternoon after the team changed the rear differential and stiffened the chassis, and while Kubica has had a couple of problems, including a spin in SS5, the Pole is running strongly and in the fight for fourth. 

 

Frenchman Bryan Bouffier has had an uneventful run to eighth while team-mate Thierry Neuville lost time this morning down on power, which was traced to a broken turbo at the mid-day service. He is 11th overnight. Martin Prokop holds ninth and Elfyn Evans is a disappointing 10th after a great drive this morning that saw him run as high as fourth overall. The Welshman endured alternator problems, resulting in the car stopping on the road section. He and co-driver Daniel Barritt were forced to push the car, late, into the mid-day service which resulted in a one minute 40 second penalty and a drop to 12th overall.

 

It was, however, Ogier who suffered the most. The Frenchman had a spin in the second stage and then had to run until the mid-day service with the engine cutting in and out, ultimately traced to a gear-shift sensor. He lost over four minutes in SS2 alone and then incurred a four-minute penalty when the crew checked into the third stage early, distracted by their engine problem. As a consequence, he and Julien Ingrassia – who had dreams of sealing their second world title on home soil this weekend – overnight just inside the top 30 after enduring further delays this afternoon with broken front suspension.