Loeb led a one-two-three for Citroen on day one in Spain

The Frenchman made the most of engine trouble for Ford's early pacesetter Marcus Gronholm to lead by 27.3 seconds from Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo.

Gronholm, winner of the first two rounds of the season, lost almost 1.5 minutes after he lost turbo boost.

Spaniard Sorbo was trailed by Xavier Pons, with Petter Solberg in fourth.

Co-driver dies in accident

The day's racing was marred by the death of German co-driver Jorg Bastuck, 36, after he was hit by another car while changing the wheel of his Citroen C2.

Gronholm's car problems resulted in him slipping to 10th, while team-mate Mikko Hirvonen suffered the same trouble to slump from fourth to 14th.

Norway's Solberg also complained about his Subaru, reporting fading brakes and a puncture.

We are not yet finding enough speed Subaru's Petter Solberg

"We could be doing better. The car feels good and yet we are not finding enough speed," said the 2003 champion.

Austrian Manfred Stohl, third in the championship but still suffering from a big crash in practice earlier in the week, was languishing in 11th place.

Loeb leads Gronholm by five points in the overall standings after three rounds of the championship.

Standings after first of three days of Rally Catalunya:

1. Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen one hour 16 minutes and seven seconds
2. Daniel Sordo (Spa) Citroen 27.300secs behind leader
3. Xavier Pons (Spa) Citroen +1:01.500
4. Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru +1:25.600
5. Alex Bengue (Fra) Peugeot +1:32.600
6. Jan Kopecky (Cze) Skoda +1:36.000
7. Stephane Sarrazin (Fra) Subaru +01:50.400
8. Chris Atkinson (Aus) Subaru +2:25.500
9. Francois Duval (Bel) Skoda +2:32.300
10. Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Ford +2:33.600