Thierry Neuville leads the Prime Yalta Rally after winning the opening stage of the all-asphalt contest, round four of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
Driving a Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg 207 Super 2000, the 22-year-old pipped Škoda Sweden’s Patrik Sandell through the 2.12-kilometre Yalta test.
Juho Hänninen and Guy Wilks shared third fastest time for Škoda Motorsport and Peugeot UK respectively.
Toni Gardemeister and Andreas Mikkelsen shared the fifth fastest time in their Fabia S2000s.
Overall positions after SS1:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neuville Thierry / Gilsoul Nicolas | Peugeot 207 S2000 | 1m09.7s |
| 2 | Sandell Patrick / Parmander Staffan | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +1.4s |
| 3 | Hänninen Juho / Markkula Mikko | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +1.5s |
| 4 | Wilks Guy / Pugh Phil | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1.5s |
| 5 | Mikkelsen Andreas / Floene Ola | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +1.7s |
| 6 | Gardemeister Toni / Suominen Tapio | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +1.7s |
| 7 | Bouffier Bryan / Panseri Xavier | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1.8s |
| 8 | Kopecký Jan / Starý Petr | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +1.9s |
| 9 | Kruuda Karl / Järveoja Martin | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +2.2s |
| 10 | Basso Giandemenico / Dotta Mitia | Proton Satria Neo S2000 | +2.3s |
| 11 | Andersson Per Gunnar / Axelsson Emil | Proton Satria Neo S2000 | +3.6s |
| 12 | Tempestini Marko / Pulpea Dorin | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +4.3s |
| 13 | Gorban Valeriy / Chernega Vadim | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +6.3s |
| 14 | Tamrazov Oleksii / German Ivan | Ford Fiesta 2000 | +6.4s |
| 15 | Kochmar Yuriy / Koval Sergiy | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +6.6s |