Mikkelsen already in the lead at RACC

Andreas Mikkelsen makes a thunderous debut with Hyundai since he occupies the head of Rally of Catalonia at midday of the first stage. The Norwegian took advantage of the Terra Alta special (SS3), the longest course of the event with 38,95km including a 7km portion on asphalt, to take control.

The former Volkswagen driver is closely followed by his compatriot Mads Ostberg (M-Sport) which is only six tenths from first place even though it was disrupted by thick dust infiltrating the passenger compartment.

After suffering from his position as opener, Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) took advantage of his hard tires to move up in Terra Alta to third position, less than five seconds behind his former teammate. The Championship leader leads by a few seconds Ott Tänak (M-Sport) and Kris Meeke (Citroën).

The Hyundais of Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville are playing on the outskirts of the top five, the Belgian having suffered on the last course of the morning after choosing soft tires. The contender for the title is ahead of the Toyota by Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hänninen. Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) completes the top ten after losing around 40 seconds in SS3 after losing his brakes. Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) follows seven seconds behind.

Teemu Suninen is provisionally leading the WRC 2 in his Ford Fiesta R5, seeing his closest rival Jan Kopecky (Skoda) lose a minute in Terra Alta, while Hiroki Arai (Ford) completely rolled over.

The second passage of the special stages of the first stage of the Rally de Catalunya will be contested from 15:19 p.m. The RACC can be followed live with our live text.