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OLBIA, Italy: Four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb put his Jordanian desert nightmare confidently behind him to open up a commanding 35.7sec lead after the first day of the Rally of Sardinia on Friday.
The Frenchman saw his hopes of victory in Jordan last month shattered after a freak accident but it was business as usual here as the Citroen driver clinched three of the day's six stages.
Teammate Dani Sordo is in second place with former world champion Petter Solberg, in a Subaru, back in third place 53.8sec off the lead.
World championship leader Mikko Hirvonen of Finland is fourth, almost a minute behind the Frenchman whom he leads by just five points in the title chase.
"It was a good day. The car performed faultlessly and the tyres were solid. With Dani in second it's been good for Citroen too," said Loeb. "I drove to the maximum from the morning because I knew that Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) was very strong.
"We were in a similar situation of course on the last round in Jordan, but hopefully we won't have a repeat of the problems we had there. The feeling in the car is good, but okay, tomorrow I will be first on the road, and that could be tricky - but I had to push hard today to get as big a lead as possible. I couldn't wait until the second day to push.
"I'm satisfied with the lead I have; tomorrow we'll see if it's enough."
Despite Loeb's fears, Latvala finished the day in seventh place despite winning the opening stage.
His day, however, went quickly off the boil when he lost his front bumper and he slumped down the field to 14th at one stage.
"We went wide on a downhill right-hand corner and hit a bank," said Latvala. "It was my mistake."
Hirvonen was disadvantaged as first car on the road in the morning loop.
"It's been a bad day," said the Finn. "I'm pushing hard, the car and the set-up feels good but for some reason the times just aren't there. Second place is the minimum I need to get out of this rally so I'm going to go absolutely flat out."
- AFP /ls
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