Leg 1 standings - Rallye de France-Tour de Corse.

[kam_baker]

Overall times after SS6 / Leg 1 - Top 20:

1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 59mins 29.7secs M
2. Marcus Gronholm BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +00mins 04.8secs M
3. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +00mins 18.5secs M
4. Francois Duval OMV Kronos Citroen Xsara WRC +00mins 57.8secs M
5. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007 +01mins 03.1secs M
6. Jari-Matti Latvala Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +01mins 06.4secs M
7. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007 +01mins 20.6secs M
8. Xavier Pons Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2006 +01mins 58.0secs
9. Jan Kopecky Czech RT-Kopecky Skoda Fabia WRC +02mins 47.4secs
10. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +03mins 35.7secs M
11. Andreas Mikkelsen Ramsport Ford Focus +03mins 40.4secs
12. Manfred Stohl OMV Kronos Citroen Xsara WRC +03mins 43.6secs M
13. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +04mins 03.2secs
14. Dani Sola Peugeot 207 S2000 +05mins 19.7secs N4
15. Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 +06mins 36.2secs J
16. Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 +06mins 45.0secs J
17. Marc Amourette Citroen C2 S1600 +06mins 45.9secs A6
18. Francois Leandri Skoda Fabia WRC +06mins 50.5secs A8
19. Per-Gunnar Andersson Suzuki Swift S1600 +06mins 53.1secs J
20. Brice Tirabassi Peugeot 207 S2000 +07mins 03.7secs N4

Overall JRC after SS6 / Leg 1 - Top 10:

1. Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 1hour 06mins 05.9secs J
2. Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 +00mins 08.8secs J
3. Per-Gunnar Andersson Suzuki Swift S1600 +00mins 16.9secs J
4. Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 S1600 +00mins 42.1secs J
5. Jozef Beres Renault Clio S1600 +00mins 45.6secs J
6. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen C2 S1600 +01mins 03.7secs J
7. Arnaud Augoyard Renault Clio R3 +01mins 57.8secs J
8. Yoann Bonato Citroen C2 S1600 +03mins 00.8secs J
9. Michal Kosciuszko Renault Clio S1600 +03mins 04.4secs J
10. Andreas Cortinovis Renault Clio S1600 +03mins 24.0secs J

Sebastien Loeb [Citroen Total WRT]:

"We needed to push hard today. I felt more confident after the modifications we made to the set-up of my C4 after the morning's loop. It's nice to be ahead this evening but victory is by no means in the bag yet." [Speaking in the mid-day service] "Marcus says it's not a big moment, but from the marks on the road it looks quite interesting. I think he might have been a bit lucky. I have gone 100 per cent in the first two stages. Marcus's speed is a little bit of a surprise here in Corsica. Okay, I know he can be fast in Spain, but he wasn't quite so fast here in the last two years."

Marcus Gronholm [BP Ford WRT]:

"Loeb can't afford to relax because I will keep pushing just as hard tomorrow. I knew I could match his times on asphalt in the dry and it's still perfectly possible to win this rally. I made a few small mistakes on the final stage, nothing major, but they cost me a few tenths of a second on each occasion. It's unfortunate that I can't start behind Loeb tomorrow to monitor his times but the gap is so small that we both have to drive flat out anyway."

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "It was a great start and all I can do is keep trying hard like this and hope Loeb and Sordo cannot find any more speed. The dry weather made tyre choice easy and the road conditions were consistent, which is something we didn't have a week ago in Spain. Some sections were really bumpy on the old asphalt but others are smooth. There are a lot of sections which are new to us so my pace notes aren't perfect but that's the same for everyone. Temperatures are rising all the time so we'll look at taking a harder compound tyre this afternoon."

Daniel Sordo [Citroen Total WRT]:

“I had tyres that were too soft for this loop of stages. I'm not driving as well as I was this morning. I couldn't go any quicker.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "The morning was okay. I've made a couple of small mistakes in some corners, but really it's nothing. I mean, losing one second in such a long stage isn't so bad. We slowed a little bit coming past Mikko [Hirvonen], there was some smoke coming from the car and when you see that, you always want to see the crew. We saw they were okay and carried on."

Francois Duval [OMV Kronos Citroen WRT]:

"Unfortunately it is impossible to attack the first three. But we can still be satisfied with our performance. I think I should be able to go better tomorrow, as the stages are narrower and more twisty."

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "The suspension is too soft. I tried to make a change with the clicks after the first stage, but it wasn't so good. Now we have to change the suspension completely, the car is understeering and oversteering too much."

Petter Solberg [Subaru WRT]:

“Today has been a bit frustrating as we have finished 5.3 seconds behind Duval in fifth place, but I had a stall at the start of SS5 in which I lost six or eight seconds and we have had troubles with grip today. Still, we are in fifth overall after the first leg and close enough to fourth for it to be possible so we will keep pushing. We have won here in the past and hope that we can have a good result this weekend.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "We will make a few adjustments to the car during this service as I wasn't comfortable with grip this morning. On such long and winding stages even small problems can lose you a lot of time by the finish, and SS3 was the second longest of the rally. But after the service hopefully things will be better and we will keep pushing this afternoon to find more speed."

Jari-Matti Latvala [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]:

“I'm very happy with the first day here, everything has been really good. The car is working well and the setup I have now is nearly perfect. Every tyre choice we have made today has been perfect also and the choices have given me confidence to push harder. I have been concentrating today on improving my driving and this has been working and now my confidence is quite high. However, I still must be careful as I nearly got caught out on some gravel today, it was on the exit of a corner and we were very sideways, I was lucky to get away with it. Overall I have been pleased with my start today and hopefully we can improve tomorrow and move up a couple of places.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "This has been a good start to the rally for us but just in the last stage I though my driving just wasn't up to the standard. I was too sharp in the corners and probably driving too aggressively again, this is what I am trying to move away from. The car and tyres have both been perfect today and for this afternoon the plan is to concentrate hard on my driving. We will make some small clicks to the dampers in service but generally the car is feeling very good and I prefer to concentrate on improving my driving than play around with the car settings. I just need to get back into the rhythm this afternoon and try and improve the times."

Chris Atkinson [Subaru WRT]:

“The middle stint of the last stage wasn't so bad, but the bumpy sections of route seemed to suit me better today than the very smooth asphalt. I don't have the confidence to push hard, and to commit to the faster, longer corners. The car is well balanced but it's very difficult to predict the grip. We have taken the steps that seem logical to arrive at a good setup but they don't seem to work so we will have to try something different.”


[Speaking in the mid-day service] "I wasn't confident with the feel of the brakes at the start of stage three, and so lost a lot of time not being able to push as hard as I would have liked into corners. The brakes improved as the stage progressed and were ok at the end, it was just that we lost a lot of time in the early section. During the second loop of stages we will have to be careful with the dirt and gravel dragged onto the route."

Xavier Pons [Subaru WRT]:

"Today was not so good for me as I don't feel that I can push hard enough at the moment. We made some changes to the car and the afternoon loop was better, but I'd like to be higher than we are after today and so we will keep pushing as hard as we can to develop the feeling in the car. There are still two more days and ten stages, so I hope that tomorrow we will be faster and on leg three faster still. It would be a great boost to the team to be able to go to Japan knowing we have good pace.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "We had no real problems with the car this morning, but I lacked a little confidence with the grip and balance of the car. The first section of this stage was difficult as it is slippery anyway in the braking zones and the surface is very bumpy, and then you need total confidence in the car when the corners become faster and flowing later on. I hope this afternoon we can be faster as I want to close the gap on Latvala in seventh."

Jan Kopecky [Czech RT Skoda Fabia WRC]:

“My tyres weren't hard enough for today's stages. But there's not a lot I can do about that, as I have not selected enough hard tyres for this rally.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "It's been hard this morning. This engine is quite old, so we don't seem to be able to match the other cars on the twisty and uphill sections. There's nothing we can do about this, though."

Henning Solberg [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]:

“Our tyres worked really well this afternoon and we tried to push on a bit harder than this morning. We still have a lot of things to learn about this rally especially with the braking points and car setup but it is my first time at this event and to finish the first day inside the top-ten is not so bad. I'm keen to get as much experience from this event as possible and so I can't make any stupid mistakes and throw away the chance. The stages are tricky in places and I'm not planning to do anything stupid. My pace notes are too slow in some places so we are losing time there and also I think the narrow roads are better for us; it is the wider, fast sections where we are dropping time.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "The car is feeling quite difficult for me to drive, I think it may be too soft and it is moving around too much in the corners. I am still finding it difficult in general to drive on asphalt and I need more experience and confidence on this surface. Again this is my first time on these stages and I don't have the experience that the other drivers have, it is very easy to push too hard and get caught out."

Andreas Mikkelsen [Ramsport Ford Focus WRC]:

“I'm not in the top 10 this evening but my priority has always been to learn on asphalt. I'm not really looking at the stage times, so if my overall position goes up, then it will just do so naturally.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "We had a slow puncture on the front-right tyre near the end of the first stage today. Otherwise, it's been good – it's nice to have the new engine after the problems we had in Spain. It certainly feels quick again."

Manfred Stohl [OMV Kronos Citroen WRT]:

"I'm simply thinking too much. Of course, there is always that security-issue in the back of my mind. Since the Kronos Team has shown immense commitment to make this start possible I don't want to do too much damage since they'd get into problems concerning the rally in Japan otherwise. I'm just glad that today is over. I've never felt comfortable. Tomorrow is a brand new day."

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "There is something wrong, but it's not with the car, it's with my head. I cannot drive fast when my head is like this. The mechanics did a very nice job to get the car ready for me in time, so I absolutely don't want to crash it and disappoint them."

Matthew Wilson [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]:

“This morning we struggled on the narrow sections of road but the car felt really good on the fast wide roads and my times were very good there. Today's roads were half bumpy and half smooth so we had to compromise on setup but tomorrow is nearly all bumpy and narrow so I think we will make some changes to the suspension tonight. I thought I drove better on the narrow roads on the second pass this afternoon but unfortunately the times did not reflect this. The tyres worked well as all our choices today were correct.”

Speaking in the mid-day service] "It has been an average morning for me really. We had a small half spin at a hairpin on the first stage and lost some time. The car has felt fantastic on the wide roads and my driving here is good also, these are the sections where I'm faster and making up time. But on the narrow sections the feeling it just not perfect yet and I know we are dropping the time here. The tyres have been good this morning and for this afternoon I will be trying to get things improved on the narrow roads."

Notable retirements:

Mikko Hirvonen [BP Ford WRT]: [retired from leg 1 in SS3 - went off the road]

"My pace notes were too fast for a left corner and I entered the bend too quickly. The car slid wide towards a concrete block and I hit it just where the suspension is attached to the bodyshell. I was lucky that the car slid rather than went straight on because there was a big drop off the edge. I knew we weren't going to get round and the concrete blocks aren't that soft around here.

"There was a small fire because fluid dripped onto the exhaust. The wheel was ripped off and bounced onto the roof of a house which was just below the level of the road. It bounced back onto the mountainside before rebounding onto the wall of the house and missing the kitchen window by about half a metre. It damaged a few tiles on the roof but the owner wasn't angry - he was quite excited by it all!"

Nicolas Bernardi [Suzuki WRT]: [retired from leg 1 after SS4 - no power]

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "It's nice to have the WRC dream on the road. The car hasn't given any trouble at all this morning. All I wanted to do was come through the stages. I was quite steady in the first one and then went a bit more in the second. The car is easy to drive and feels fantastic."

Alessandro Bettega [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]: [retired from event in SS5 - went off the road]

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "A good morning with no problems. I am just trying to acquaint myself with the speed which is normal in these cars. The car is easy to drive up to a certain point, but that last 10 per cent is really not easy."

Team principals:

Guy Frequelin [Citroen Total WRT - team principal]:

"It was a fierce fight this afternoon. After fine-tuning the setup of their Citroen C4 WRC, Sebastien and Daniel put in a magnificent run over today's last three stages to bridge the gap and then pull out a small lead on which they will need to try to build tomorrow. After a promising start, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti didn't take the same tyres as Sebastien for the second loop. Their challenge tomorrow will be to try to catch Marcus Gronholm."

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "Today's wide, reasonably smooth stages were similar to what we found in Spain last week, so it wasn't a surprise to see Marcus go so well. We knew that before coming here, and we were very aware that it wouldn't be easy to repeat our one-two finish in Salou. That said, this rally has only just begun and the day is far from over."


Malcolm Wilson [BP Ford WRT - team director]:

"It was a superb day for Marcus and I'm pleased he is still in the fight for the lead. Mikko made an uncharacteristic error but he will return tomorrow so he can build his experience of these roads and hopefully score a manufacturers' point. The damage to the car was heavy. The suspension mounting on the chassis was broken which required a lot of fabrication work to the mounting point before the replacement of the entire suspension system. The rear differential was also replaced but the car is now restored to full health for tomorrow."

Richard Taylor [Subaru WRT - managing director]:

"We have finished today with all three cars in the points, but we are still not showing as much pace on asphalt as we had hoped for. Tomorrow's stages have a slightly different character, and the team will be pushing to make progress up the leader board.”

Malcolm Wilson [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT - team boss]:

“It's been another great day for the Stobart team to get the two cars in points scoring positions. Jari has had another sensible, solid drive and is now in a close battle for fourth place, hopefully tomorrow we can see him make up a place or two. Both Henning and Matthew have upped their pace from Spain also and haven't made any mistakes today at all. I'm sure they will settle in tomorrow and improve even more.”