Ogier leads first day in Corsica
Sebastien Ogier took an early lead of the Rally Corsica, while Sebastien Loeb crashed on the second stage, when the nine-time champion's hopes of victory in the second of his three planned 2018 outings with Citroen came to an abrupt end when he put his C3 in a ditch just moments after he started the test. The Citroen team reported that Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena were OK, but did not say whether they will return.
Loeb had been second on the opening test to Ogier, who was 9.7 seconds faster than his countryman on the 30-mile stage. Following Loeb's crash, M-Sport Ford Fiesta driver Ogier was able to extend his rally lead to 21.1s over Kris Meeke with another fastest time on the shorter Piedigriggio - Pont de Castirla second stage.
Thierry Neuville completes the top three, a little more than two seconds behind Meeke, but reported he was unhappy with the balance of his Hyundai i20 - which he claimed was "all over the place" - after the opening test. Toyota's trio also suffered on the opening stage with braking issues through the water sections.
Ott Tanak is the highest-placed Yaris in fourth position ahead of M-Sport's Elfyn Evans, who has Petter Solberg's former co-driver Phil Mills alongside him this weekend while Daniel Barritt continues his recovery from a Rally Mexico crash.
Dani Sordo, who finished runner-up to Ogier in Mexico, sits in sixth place ahead of the second and third Toyotas of Esapekka Lappi and Jari-Matti Latvala. Sordo's Hyundai team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen spun on the opening corner of the first stage and ended the morning in ninth place, marginally ahead of the third M-Sport Fiesta of Bryan Bouffier, who is making his first appearance since the season-opener. The Skoda of Jan Kopecky leads the WRC2 category ahead of his team-mate Ole Christian Veiby.
Leading positions
Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia M-Sport 39m53.7s
2 Kris Meeke, P.Nagle Citroen Total Abu Dhabi 21.1s
3 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis 23.4s
4 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing 25.1s
5 Elfyn Evans, P.Mills M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 37.7s
6 Dani Sordo, C.del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis 42.0s
7 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Toyota Gazoo Racing 45.2s
8 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing 53.0s
9 Andreas Mikkelsen, A.Jager Hyundai Shell Mobis 53.2s
10 Bryan Bouffier, X.Panseri M-Sport Ford 54.4s
6th April, 2018