World champion Sebastien Loeb began the new season as he ended the last with an impressive performance on day one of the Monte Carlo Rally. The Frenchman has a 32.7-second lead over fellow Citroen works driver Francois Duval of Belgium after Friday's stages.
Loeb claimed three of the four stages, having won the opener by 11 seconds.
Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm is in third spot, a minute behind the leader, while Norway's Petter Solberg is fourth.
Finland's Gronholm took the second stage after pipping Duval by fractions of a second.
Loeb still had a 10.5 second lead going into stage three which he more than doubled going into stage four, after recording the second fastest time of the rally.
Ford new driver, Finland's Toni Gardemeister, lies in fifth ahead of Estonia's Markko Martin, with Mitsubishi's Gilles Panizzi in seventh and Subaru's Stephane Sarrazin eighth.
Leading positions after the first
day of the Monte Carlo Rally:
1. Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen one hour 18 minutes and
46.9 seconds
2. Francois Duval (Bel) Citroen 32.7 behind
3. Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Peugeot 1:01.5
4. Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru 1:27.7
5. Toni Gardemeister (Fin) Ford 1:30.3
6. Markko Martin (Est) Peugeot 1:39.1
7. Didier Auriol (Fra) Peugeot 2:01.9
8. Gilles Panizzi (Fra) Mitsubishi 2:03.4
9. Stephane Sarrazin (Fra) Subaru 2:15.1
10. Roman Kresta (Cze) Ford 2:41.2
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
