Stéphane Sarrazin first leader!

At the end of the first 36,87 timed kilometers of the Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, Stéphane Sarrazin takes the lead in the general classification. The Peugeot France driver achieved an exceptional performance on the road to Antraigues.

Published on 19/01/2011 à 11:01

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In the first special event of the Centenary of Rally Automobile Monte-Carlo, there was Stéphane Sarrazin, Juho Hänninen and the others.

In just over 36 kilometers, two drivers broke away from the rest of the peloton. Sarrazin with his 207 Super 2000 and Hänninen with his Fabia Super 2000 beat the competition by more than twenty seconds. Guy Wilks, third, places himself at 20??3.

Arriving among the first at the stop point, Stéphane Sarrazin did not seem to understand his performance: “I have the feeling that I could have attacked more. But it?s a long rally. »

Behind, the other favorites were all surprised by the Frenchman's performance. Freddy Loix, Bryan Bouffier and Petter Solberg were unable to explain a gap oscillating between twenty and thirty seconds.

Notable performance by François Delecour. At the wheel of a Peugeot 207 Super 2000, the former winner of the event is placed in seventh place at 35??7 ahead of Jan Kopecky.

This first special already eliminates some leading drivers from the race for victory. Victims of punctures, Nicolas Vouilloz, Henning Solberg and Andreas Mikkelsen lost three and nine minutes respectively.

As for Chris Atkinson (Proton) and Thierry Neuville (Peugeot), they came out in this first stage.