Sébastien Ogier starts strong

Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen) did not wait to take the lead in the Tour de Corsica. The Championship leader, who has a slim chance of being titled this weekend, won the first two special stages including the first Acqua Doria – Albitreccia route, more than 49km long. The Frenchman was ahead of Kris Meeke (Citroën) at the break by almost 15 seconds, the Briton being his closest opponent.

The Hyundai réalisent un beau tir groupé en complétant le top cinq. Thierry Neuville took third place in SS2 at Plage de Liamone – Sarrola Carcopino, coming back to within three seconds of the first DS 3 WRC and preceding his teammate Dani Sordo by a little over a second. Hayden Paddon is around ten seconds behind the Spaniard.

Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen), Sébastien Ogier's direct rival in the Championship, is only in sixth place, eight tenths behind the New Zealander. The Norwegian was handicapped by ants in his left foot, causing him difficulty braking. The Scandinavian is less than two seconds ahead of his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala.

Craig Breen slipped to eighth position at the end of SS2 while he is competing in his first rally on asphalt at the wheel of a WRC. The Irishman is less than three seconds behind Jari-Matti Latvala and is already almost half a minute ahead of the Fords of Mads Ostberg and Éric Camilli, separated by half a second.

Elfyn Evans (Fiesta R5) is on the verge of the top ten, leading WRC 2 with a 13s lead over Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia R6) after making a great attack in the first special. Ott Tänak (Ford) is only 13th, the Estonian seeming to be in difficulty with his Dmack tires. Bryan Bouffier (DS 3 R5) follows a tenth just ahead of Kevin Abbring who discovers the Hyundai i20 R5 which is taking its first steps in competition at the Tour de Corse. The Dutchman completes the provisional WRC 2 podium. In the i20 R5, Stéphane Sarrazin occupies 18th place in the general classification just ahead of Julien Maurin (Fabia R5).

Quentin Gilbert (DS 3 R5) and Pierre-Louis Loubet (DS 3 R5) lost time following mechanical problems, the first suffering from a faulty clutch while the second lost his power steering.

In JWRC, Yohan Rossel is in the lead with four tenths ahead of Laurent Pellier, while Terry Folb follows seven seconds behind.

Crews in difficulty will not have the opportunity to repair their cars since the first stage only offers a regroup as a break. The second passage will be contested from 14:24 p.m.

Results of the Tour de Corsica