Carnage on Saturday’s opener

Like Friday, the rally’s second day dawned clear and dry and from 0700hrs, as the sun rose over Leon, crews filed out of the Service Park to head to the first of three gravel tests in the hills north and east of Leon.

Saturday’s opening stage, Ibarilla, was the longest of the rally at 29.90km and also proved to be the most dramatic of the event so far - bringing about the retirement of three top 10 drivers.

Citroen Total team driver Dani Sordo was the first to go. The Spaniard, in fourth place overnight, damaged his C4 WRC after hitting something in the road. He stopped at the 22.9km point.

Soon after, Stobart Ford driver Matthew Wilson went off the road at a left-hand corner two kilometres before the finish. Wilson’s Focus came to rest beached in a ditch with three wheels off the ground.

Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block was the stage’s third victim. The American stopped on a hairpin corner 23.67km from the start, his Ford Focus brought to a halt by broken suspension.

The stage was won by Citroen Total team driver Sebastien Loeb, who capitalised on his start position of third on the road to charge ahead of fellow C4 WRC driver Sebastien Ogier into second place overall. "I think that was a good time. I was pushing very hard. We have a very good rhythm, I’m just trying to stay in the lines and push hard," he said.

Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen was second quickest, but a distant 10.3 second’s adrift of Loeb’s time despite a road position which was theoretically better.

"Sebastien’s certainly on the case," said the Finn. "My driving was okay but I still don’t have a good enough feeling or the confidence to attack hard. It’s tricky. The Citroens are very fast and it’s going to be difficult to keep up with them but we’ll keep trying."

After Sordo’s problems Hirvonen moved up a place to fifth overall, but trailed the rally lead by 1min 25.1sec.

Hirvonen’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was third quickest and increasingly frustrated at the pace of the Citroens. "I tried to come as quickly as I could but if you look at Sebastien’s time it’s amazing," he said. "The Citroen’s seem to be very strong. Okay, I know I wasn’t driving perfectly, I made a few mistakes, and maybe that explains five seconds - but not 12."

Running first on the road, and carrying the burden of carving a clear line through the slippery loose gravel, rally leader Petter Solberg set the fifth fastest time and ended the stage with his lead margin reduced from 15sec to 10.7sec.

"I’m sure everybody behind is on a charge," said Petter. "The surface is very loose, as we knew it would be, but that’s no problem. Actually, up to 21km it felt really good. Then I lost the balance of the car a little for the final 7km. We need to stiffen the chassis a bit to get a better feeling. Overall not bad though. The interesting thing will be to see what happens tonight."

Running behind Solberg through today’s stages, Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier set the fourth fastest time. "It certainly feels different to yesterday," said the Frenchman. "It’s slippery, but okay, we had a good stage. We took no risks, tried to drive clean but it’s not easy being second on the road"

Weather conditions were bright but overcast when competitors began the stage. The temperature was 14 degrees Celsius. By mid afternoon the temperature is expected to nudge 26 degrees and there is a possibility of rain.