The Norwegian driver made the most of his great start position in Day 1 – 8th overall – and, while the front-runners were confronted with tough-to-handle watersplashes and difficult road conditions all day, he took his Citroen C4 WRC to 5 out of 9 potential stage wins thanks to a very clean road.
“I didn't want to use tactics; I prefer to go flat out and see where we end up,” said Solberg, admitting that the Saturday action will be much more difficult for him, as he'll open the roads and face some incredibly slippery conditions.
“It’s been a very good day and I'm very happy. This makes up for the disappointment in Sweden. When everything works properly it's good fun,” added the Norwegian driver.
Solberg’s rival for the entire day was Ogier, who won 4 stages of Day 1 and finished runner-up to the Norwegian in the other 5 ones. Just like Solberg, the Frenchman benefited from a great starting position – 5th overall – and ended the day 12.5 seconds ahead of reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb.
“Obviously second on the road today wasn't as bad as being first, and in the circumstances I don't think we could have done any better. It’s been a very good day first day for me, and I'm satisfied to be third on the road tomorrow - I think it is going to be okay,” said Loeb.
Loeb was followed by teammate Dani Sordo in 4th place, while Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen struggled all day to eventually finish 5th and 6th overall (more than a minute behind the front-runners). The Top 10 was completed by Henning Solberg, Matthew Wilson, Federico Villagra and Ken Block.
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