In the end, the first and fourth stages were cancelled but the rest of the stages were run as planned.
But what a debut by Sebastien Ogier. He took the lead of the rally in the first competitive stage and held it until Latvala took it on stage 6. In other words, this guy not only led the first WRC event he contested, he made the fastest times on the first ever stage he contested in a WRC car. Granted, he was helped by weather conditions but what he pulled off there was astonishing. Mads ?stberg also did well, he held second the sixth stage and is still on fourth.
As the first day drew to a close Latvala took the lead and Loeb second place after a cautious start. As Hirvonen rolled his car after a slow start and Atkinson crashed himself out of contention on the super special PG Andersson took an unlikely third place and Mads ?stberg is on fourth place. Ogier eventually dropped to ninth place after gearbox problems.
Hirvonen continues on 28th place overall, 5 minutes behind leaders, but could still score if there are plenty of retirements. Still, with Loeb on second and Sordo on fifth Citroen' s 11 point lead in the manufacturer's championship means it's is pretty much sealed for Citroen at this point unless both their cars hit major problems and retire.
