Sebastien Chardonnet takes early lead

After stopping off in Cologne for the ceremonial start, the Citroen Top Driver crews tackled the 37 kilometres of timed stages scheduled for yesterday’s first leg. At the end of day one, the Sebastien Chardonnet/Thibault de la Haye crew leads the field, closely followed by Christian Riedemann/Lara Vanneste and Quentin Gilbert/Isabelle Galmiche.

Held on roads between Cologne and Trier, the first two stages of this year’s Rallye Deutschland were contested in blazing sunshine with temperatures approaching 30 degrees. The German roads welcoming the Citroen Top Driver’s DS3 R3s were left particularly dirty and slippery after the WRC and WRC2 cars had completed their runs.

Sebastien Chardonnet proved to be the most comfortable on the German tarmac roads, notably claiming the first stage win in the category. This advantage ensured he ended the first day on top of the provisional podium. Close behind, Christian Riedemann trailed the Frenchman by jest 3.3 seconds after “Sauertal” and was in turn only 2.2 seconds clear of the man from the Vosges region, Quentin Gilbert, who ended day one in third place.

“We’re really pleased to be back on tarmac,” commented Sebastien Chardonnet. “We really enjoyed driving the DS3 R3 and the fight for the win is going to be close because there’s less than ten seconds between the first four cars. Anyway, we’re going to try and do just as well tomorrow.”

Simone Campedelli won the day’s second stage to lie fourth overall in the provisional Citroen Top Driver standings, whilst current championship leader, Keith Cronin, ended the day in fifth, after picking up a puncture on the second test.

Federico Della Casa and Mohammed Al Mutawaa complete the WRC3 provisional standings.