Sebastien Ogier began Thursday’s competition strongly, going fastest by 2.6sec on the opening stage, to topple his Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen from his overnight position as rally leader.
After a light dusting of snow overnight, conditions were super slippery on the 7.03m Torsby section, but Ogier felt he had been too cautious. “There were perhaps two centimetres of loose snow on top, but I could have pushed a bit more – especially at the end,” he said. “Not a perfect start, but not bad.”
After an early retirement from Rallye Monte-Carlo, Martin Prokop’s luck showed no sign of changing. The Czech driver dropped more than three minutes when his Fiesta RS WRC slithered off the road and into a ditch. “Luckily there were some spectators around to help us back on the road, but a lot of others were more interested in filming us with their phones,” he said.
On his first event in a World Rally Car Craig Breen was also in trouble. “We have a misfire after changing gear, it sounds like the engine is cutting out briefly with each shift,” he explained. “I also had to change my crash helmet last night and this one is moving all over the place.”