Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Delecour / D. Grataloup

The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crews of François Delecour/Daniel Grataloup and Alister McRae/David Senior hold eighth and 12th positions respectively in their Lancer Evolution WRCs at the end of the opening leg of Rallye Monte-Carlo.

After the traditional ceremonial start in the world famous Casino Square last night, the 55 competing crews left early this morning for a scheduled five special stages and 157 kilometres of competition high in the hills 160 kilometres to the northwest. The route, encompassing two passes of the famous Sisteron stage, was however interrupted with the cancellation of stage 2 when the sheer volume of spectators brought safety into question. In contrast to previous Montes, weather conditions have been very mild - albeit with early morning sub-zero temperatures - a general lack of snow and ice resulting in predominantly dry asphalt roads and the opportunity to push to the limit over the twisty and treacherous mountain roads. Bright sunshine and clear blue skies have brought the crowds out in their thousands and few have been disappointed by the return of the world’s greatest rally drivers to the French mountains.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Delecour / D. Grataloup

For both Delecour and McRae however the cancellation of stage 2 was a frustrating start to the event, their tyre choice based on the conditions in the longer Sisteron stage. François and co-driver Daniel Grataloup nevertheless maintained an overall top ten position and, by changing the set-up of the Lancer Evolution WRC to something more suited to dry asphalt, are climbing up the leaderboard and poised for attack.

"I was pretty happy with the car early on but throughout the day we’ve gone nearer and nearer a full dry asphalt set-up", said François. "We were possibly just not fast enough on the ice in the first stage, but our tyres were really chosen for the second one and we lost out when it was cancelled. As we’ve made the car stiffer I’ve been able to drive more aggressively and because the conditions are basically dry, the stages need full asphalt commitment, but you still have to watch out for the slippy bits".

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart A. McRae / D. Senior

Team-mates Alister McRae and David Senior are competing in Monte-Carlo for only the second time and, although conditions are unusually akin to a dry asphalt rally - with the exception of approximately four kilometres of snow on the top of Sisteron - the British pair are concentrating on gaining experience and confidence in the Evolution WRC.

"We’re still learning but my feeling for the car is increasing all the time and we’re pushing harder and getting faster", said Alister. "Because there’s a lot of dry Tarmac we can do this and have changed the set-ups to suit the conditions".

Adding to their comments, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Derek Dauncey said: "We made a tyre choice this morning that would benefit us in stage 2 and could see from the splits during the first stage that we were competitive. But then when the stage was cancelled we lost our advantage. Changes that have been made to the cars have certainly helped the drivers, but it’s been a very competitive day".

Meanwhile…

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart A. McRae / D. Senior

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) has snatched the lead from Tommi Makinen (Subaru) at the end of the opening leg of Rallye Monte-Carlo. The young Super 1600 World Champion, who has graduated to the Xsara WRC this season, upholds honours for the French marque after both Thomas Radstrom and Philippe Bugalski retired with engine failure on the run out to first service. The fight between the leading trio was split by just a handful of seconds before the final stage in darkness, Colin McRae (Ford) holding third despite narrowly avoiding disaster after sliding into a ditch in stage 4. Nearest challenger and 2000 World Champion Marcus Gronholm (Peugeot) is fourth with a chasing Carlos Sainz (Ford) fifth, the Spaniard having lost time with a loss of power steering for two stages. Petter Solberg (Subaru) is sixth, fastest stage time in stage 3 balancing out some spins throughout the day. Defending World Champion Richard Burns (Peugeot) is seventh. Hyundai are the second manufacturer to have lost cars today after Armin Schwarz hit a rock and broke the front suspension, and an accident resulted in Freddy Loix being airlifted to hospital with a suspected broken foot. X-rays later revealed severe bruising and, as co-driver Sven Smeets walked away uninjured, the duo are sure to be back for the second round in Sweden.

Still to come…

With more than 36 percent of the entrants in retirement, the remaining crews leave Monte-Carlo on Saturday morning at 08:13 hrs (local) for the second leg of the event. The route, which covers six stages and 131 competitive kilometres, is based around the service park at the famous harbour in the tiny principality and again includes some of the most spectacular stages of the rally.