SS1: Loeb quickest on France opener

Sebastien Loeb has gone fastest on the opening stage of Rallye de France Alsace. The French hero, the winner in Alsace last season, completed the opening stage with a time of 5m41.7s in his Citroen DS3 WRC, 2.6s quicker than Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala.

Loeb, running a hard compound Michelin tyre on his Citroen, said: “It was okay with no big risks because the tyres are quite cold in the morning. The road is very narrow and a bit tricky. I have two spares. For speed it’s one, but after the puncture in Germany we prefer to use two.”

Latvala completed the stage with the second fastest time, albeit with minor cosmetic damage to the right-rear corner of his works Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The Finn opted for Michelin’s soft compound option. “The road was not actually as clean as I expected,” said the Finn, who edged out Citroen driver Sebastien Ogier.

Mads Ostberg, back in the WRC after skipping Rally Australia, was quicker through the stage than factory Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen after reporting making significant gains with the set-up of his M-Sport Stobart entry.

Hirvonen, meanwhile, said some of the steel poles inserted to prevent corner cutting had disappeared, which meant his pace notes were too cautious. “You don’t know if the poles are going to be there, some of them are, some of them aren’t,” said the Finn, who was 5.9s slower than title rival Loeb. “The notes are too slow now because some places we can cut.”

Ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen survived a trip through a ditch in his Citroen.

Standings after SS1: