Held on roads through the Mosel vineyards, the first leg of Rallye Deutschland provided rich pickings for Sbastien Loeb and Daniel Elena.On one of their favoured surfaces, the eight-time World Champions grabbed the overall lead after the first stage. Mikko Hirvonen and JarmoLehtinen had a more difficult first day, at the end of which they found themselves down in sixth spot, 48.9s adrift of their team-mates.
As is customary at Rally Germany, the stages on day one were concentrated around the banks of the Mosel river. Inspite of the thunderstorms that had struck overnight, the roads winding through the German wine-producing regionwere largely dry, except for the first few miles of SS1. The Citron DS3 WRCs therefore set off from the service parkthis morning fitted with hard Michelin Pilot Sport tyres.
Sbastien Loeb immediately wasted no time in reminding his rivals of his intention to win the event for the ninth time.In setting the fastest time on the Mittelmosel, Moselland and Gradschaft stages, he built up a healthy 13s lead overPetter Solberg. Its a little bit trickier this year, because we are running the stages in the opposite direction to usualand so we have had to re-familiarize ourselves with the pitfalls of these roads, noted the rally leader. The quicksections are narrow and lined with pavements, and the hairpins break up the rhythm. Things are going well for usthough, as we havent had any real scares.
After finishing third on SS1, Mikko Hirvonen was back in fifth at the days halfway point: Although the roads are dry,my confidence is not so good on the dirtier sections. I didnt drive very well this morning, but it was a bit better on SS3.We are going to try a more flexible set-up this afternoon.
Although he only won one stage in the afternoon, Sbastien Loeb continued to move further ahead. At the end of dayone, the gap to Petter Solberg had broken through the twenty-second mark: The road was pretty dry and dusty on thesecond runs, but everything went well. Overall, its been a perfect day for us. Although I controlled the race from thefront today and I already have a significant lead over my closest challengers, Im certainly not out of the woods yet,especially with two runs on Panzerplatte scheduled tomorrow.
The afternoon's action saw Mikko set times that were fairly close to those of his team-mate. The Finn nonetheless hadto relinquish fifth place to Dani Sordo, who moved two seconds clear: I felt a bit better this afternoon. The car wasperfect, its more a question of what's going on in my head. I find myself in a similar situation to Monte-Carlo. I wasdriving too aggressively, trying to force myself and it just didn't work! In some sections, I didnt push, I just tried to beas clean as possible and I was quicker. I have to keep working on this point. Im still optimistic, especially because I likethe configuration of day two.
Seb drove brilliantly again, emphasized Yves Matton, Citron Racing Team Principal. When the conditions aretricky, he knows not to take any unnecessary risks. But as soon as the road is dry, he pushes straight away and movesahead of his rivals. Its good to have built up a small cushion, but we are perfectly aware that a rally is never over beforeyou get to the very end. The day was more difficult for Mikko, who still has more to learn about driving the DS3 ontarmac. He is in a similar situation to the one he experienced at the start of the season on gravel: he needs to changehis driving style to adapt to our car. When the stages are as difficult as they were today, that is no easy task.
NEUVILLE EYES UP A PODIUM SPOT
After taking fourth place on SS2, Thierry Neuville held firm as he made a solid and consistent start to the rally. TheCitron Junior World Rally Team driver is just five seconds behind third-placed Jari-Matti Latvala. Although there aresome points that could be perfected, Im really pleased with how things went today, confirmed the Belgian. Seb Loebwas quicker than everyone today, but we were very close to the times of the other competitors all day. But it all startsagain tomorrow. Tyre management on the Baumholder stages seems to be one of the keys to success here. I still wantthat podium spot, so Ill have to keep pushing.
The other two DS3 WRCs taking part in this rally hold 10th and 11th position in the overall standings, with Peter VanMerksteijn Jr. just ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah. I didnt feel confident this morning, but it was better this afternoon,said the Qatari. I think it will be even better tomorrow. I want to prepare properly for the seasons remaining twotarmac rallies.
OVERALL STANDINGS1 Loeb / Elena Citron DS3 WRC 1:22:18.02 Solberg / Patterson Ford Fiesta RS WRC +20.43 Latvala / Anttila Ford Fiesta RS WRC +29.44 Neuville / Gilsoul Citron DS3 WRC +34.55 Sordo / del Barrio Mini JCW WRC +46.76 Hirvonen / Lehtinen Citron DS3 WRC +48.97 Tnak / Sikk Ford Fiesta RS WRC +1:17.98 stberg / Andersson Ford Fiesta RS WRC +1:28.79 Atkinson / Prvot Mini JCW WRC +2:34.810 Van Merksteijn Jr. / Chevaillier Citron DS3 WRC +4:18.111 Al-Attiyah / Bernacchini Citron DS3 WRC +4:40.1
