“We had a really good morning and I think we proved what we can do. On that first stage I knew it was going to be challenging for everyone and I tried to take as many seconds as I could – which worked out really well. We lost some aero after that which cost us some time, but it was still a good morning," Suninen said.
Teemu Suninen and Jarmo Lehtinen were impressive in their Fiesta. Photo: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
“Then in the afternoon the tyre choice didn’t really work out for us. We thought it was going to be a bit warmer, but the sun went down just as the last stage started and I wasn’t able to make the most of the hard tyres."
Problems for Ott Tanak hampered him all through the morning's stages.
The Estonian was tight-lipped and would not divulge any issues with his i20 - opting to not talk to the WRC's stage-end media. "We were getting some suspension issues from the start of the day, and it proved to be something that we could not repair on the road sections with the tools and bits that we had," he explained at the end of the day. "It is difficult to say what happened exactly, but we could do nothing about it." Tanak's teammate, Thierry Neuville, finished the day on the podium, but with pressure behind from six-time champion, Sebastien Ogier. Championship front runners Evans and Ogier had strong days, but struggled with road sweeping. Gus Greensmith impressed in sixth, only a minute off the pace. Six more stages will be run on Saturday with an early start for the opening stages Monte Lerno and Coiluna-Loelle.
Championship leaders, Evans and Martin, had a strong day. Photo: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
Classification after Day One
| 1 | D. Sordo | C. del Barrio | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | 1:12:40.9 |
| 2 | T. Suninen | J. Lehtinen | Ford Fiesta WRC | +17.4 |
| 3 | T. Neuville | N. Gilsoul | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +35.2 |
| 4 | S. Ogier | J. Ingrassia | Toyota Yaris WRC | +36.0 |
| 5 | E. Evans | S. Martin | Toyota Yaris WRC | +51.9 |
| 6 | G. Greensmith | E. Edmondson | Ford Fiesta WRC | +1:07.1 |
| 7 | P. L. Loubet | V. Landais | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +1:33.5 |
| 8 | O. Tänak | M. Järveoja | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +1:53.7 |
| 9 | K. Rovanperä | J. Halttunen | Toyota Yaris WRC | +2:32.3 |
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