Loix holds narrow lead after day one

The Spaniard claimed the lead on the third stage this morning, despite two spins on the opening loop. He maintained the lead until the penultimate stage, when he dropped a small amount of time with a puncture. A strong time from Loix on the final stage gave the Belgian a scant overnight lead of 4.1 seconds.

Loix overhauled former European Champion Renato Travaglia this morning (also driving a privately-run Abarth) to claim second, before Travaglia was also passed by Ojeda’s team mate Nicolas Vouilloz. Travaglia then dropped two minutes with a puncture on the final loop of stages.

Vouilloz led the rally after the first stage of the day, but struggled to get to grips with some of the bumpy sections of the stages. He ended the day third, 25 seconds behind his team mate.

Abarth’s Anton Alen, driving in only his second-ever asphalt rally, was set for fourth place until he went off on the final stage on some loose gravel.

It was also an unhappy opening leg for his team mate Andrea Navarra. The IRC series leader was first on the road, and said that he was sweeping the stage clean for the following runners. More drama was to follow for him in the afternoon, when a suspension arm broke over a pothole and he ran into a group of chickens. Nonetheless, he holds eighth place.

Both Kronos Peugeot driver Bernd Casier and local Mitsubishi man Roman Kresta lost a lot of time in the opening loop of stages: Casier with an off-road excursion and Kresta with a puncture. It was left to another local driver, Vaclav Pech, to salvage Mitsubishi’s pride with a provisional fourth place.

Honda’s Dani Sola retired after SS5 with an engine problem, while his team mate Luca Betti was slowed by steering problems. Citroen driver Simon Jean-Joseph ran comfortably inside the top 10 with his C2 Super 1600 before losing three minutes with a loose brake pipe.

Loix said: “A lot of the stages here reminded me of those at home in Belgium, so that gave me a lot of confidence. Enrique [Ojeda] is driving for the championship, but he’s also been pushing hard so it was a very good battle between us today. Of course I’ve been trying not to take too many risks, but as a driver, it’s very difficult not to when you have a smell of victory...Tomorrow will be a big fight: as well as Enrique, Nicolas [Vouilloz] is not far behind.”