The thousands of fanatical spectators who poured into the Italian mountains last night to secure the best vantage points have not been disappointed by the action in the opening leg of Rallye Sanremo, the 12th round of the FIA World Rally Championship. At the conclusion of today’s 144 competitive kilometres, Peugeot’s Gilles Panizzi heads the field back into town with a narrow advantage over team-mate Francois Delecour, and the Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crews of Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki and Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets hold seventh and 10th positions respectively.

Mitsubishi Motors drivers have set the pace in the Group N production class from the start and an amazing four-way battle is unfolding between the Mitsubishi Carisma GTs of Italians Alex Fiorio and Gianluigi Galli, Austria’s Manfred Stohl and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution of Gustavo Trelles.

After the torrential rain competitors faced during the practice earlier in the week, clear weather and temperatures that climbed to 29 degrees during the day were a welcome sight in the Mediterranean resort of Sanremo. Today’s northwesterly route was run over just two sections of road, however both stages have been run twice in one direction and twice in reverse, making up a total of eight competitive sections. Although this idea is not new to World Championship rallying, this ’racetrack’ format has not been used in 20 years and was a bold step for the organisers of the Italian round of the series.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Tommi Makinen, who has taken victory in Sanremo for the past two consecutive years, has had a trouble-free run today, however the pace high up on the mountain roads has been fierce with no fewer than three manufacturers entering asphalt experts as the battle for points reaches a critical time. The Finn is however in the thick of a battle with Championship leader Marcus Gronholm, the pair split by an incredible four-tenths of a second after more than 144 kilometres of competition.

"This morning was quite slippery in places and we’ve been playing with the suspension settings a bit", commented Tommi. "Stages 5 and 6 were drier than this morning, but we had a little bit too much tyre wear which is something we discussed with the Michelin engineers. The last two stages went very well and we are now happy with the car and are concentrating on the driving. We’ve got good stages to start tomorrow and those were the ones we were fighting on during the last leg this time last year when we won. We have good memory of them so will be pushing hard".

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Loix / S. Smeets

Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets eased themselves into the pace early on, but have been steadily moving up the leaderboard during the day. On their second run through the stages this morning, the Belgians slashed nearly 20 seconds off their previous times and now hold 10th position in the Carisma GT, ahead of former World Champion Didier Auriol, despite some handling difficulties and a steering rack problem in the final stage.

"We’re trying to get quicker and quicker and the times are getting better, but the feeling has not been quite one hundred percent", commented Freddy. "I am not so satisfied with the balance and handling of the car, it’s not totally flowing, and we must try and do something about this for tomorrow. Four kilometres into the last stage, turning into a right corner, the power steering locked up and we hit something on the inside of the corner and went into a bank, which pushed us to the other side of the road. Fortunately there was a barrier which kept us on the road, but we damaged the side of the car".

Alex Fiorio is a former Group N World Champion and the Italian has proved that he has lost none of his old skills, stunning the regulars by forging his way into the lead from the start and then withstanding immense pressure from fellow Carisma GT driver Gianluigi Galli, the winner for the past two years. He is just 1.9 seconds ahead after eight stages.

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Gr.N A. Fiorio / E. Cantoni