The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crews of François Delecour/Daniel Grataloup and Alister McRae/David Senior hold 13th and 15th positions respectively at the end of the first leg of competition in Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava.

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

The event got underway last night with a ceremonial start in the coastal resort of Lloret de Mar. Thousands of fans and holiday-makers turned out to cheer the 68 competing crews over the ramp, but the action has taken them and the contenders down the coast to the southwest today for the opening leg. Clear blue skies and warm temperatures were a welcome sight for many, but the rally got off to a bad start when the first stage was cancelled for safety reasons. With too many spectators in the 12.66 kilometre Riudecanyes stage, organisers were forced to run it as a liaison section, trimming today’s six stages back to five and reducing the competitive kilometres to 164.06.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC crew of François Delecour and Daniel Grataloup lead the team’s assault after today’s five special stages, the French crew holding 13th position. The Frenchmen have had a trouble-free run, although their position on the road has guaranteed dirty and slippery conditions created by the front-running drivers cutting corners and pulling rocks and gravel onto the road.

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

"The car has a lot less understeer here in Spain which means we can commit to the corners much earlier, but the road conditions have been very bad in places", said François. "In the long stage (SS3) it wasn’t so good and we got a puncture about seven kilometres in, although the anti-deflation mousse worked and we didn’t drop too much time. This afternoon we used Michelin’s latest tyre that seems to be working well with the specific set-up we have, but again the road conditions were not so good, especially after the entire field had been through both of these stages earlier today. We have to push harder tomorrow and see what happens".

Team-mates Alister McRae and David Senior were matching stage times with Delecour, however the Scot has had a few problems throughout the day and lost a minute in stage 4 with a tyre problem.

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

"This morning the front end felt a little nervous but after making some adjustments the car has been much better this afternoon", he said. "I was also aware of a minor vibration in stage 3, possibly caused by a bent wheel rim after we cut a corner, but we lost a chunk of time in the following stage when one of the rear tyres went. The rubber was still on the wheel but off the rim, the result of a puncture. That caught us by surprise… and caused a bit of a moment! Tomorrow our road position will be better so hopefully we can make more progress".

Adding to their comments, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Derek Dauncey said: "We knew we’d taken a step forward in testing but the times today are not really what we’d hoped for. The drivers took it a bit easier in the second run over the long stage (SS6) as the roads were very dirty and tricky. Leg two however is a different type of asphalt, much closer to the conditions we tested in, and we hope that the times will be more competitive as a result".

Meanwhile...

As predicted, the Peugeots and Citroëns are dominating this second consecutive asphalt rally, Gilles Panizzi (Peugeot) establishing his superiority from the outset with a string of five fastest stage times. He leads team-mate Richard Burns by 26 seconds but Philippe Bugalski (Citroën) is hot on the Britons heels in third position. Rallye Monte-Carlo sensation, Sébastien Loeb, holds fourth position ahead of the third registered Peugeot, that of 2000 World Champion Marcus Grönholm. Petter Solberg (Subaru) slipped behind the Finn and into sixth position after incurring a 10 second penalty for leaving service late when mechanics replaced the brake pedal box. Colin McRae (Ford) is holding his own in seventh position, the Scot competing with a broken little finger on his left hand, and the team switching the gear selector from the right hand side of the Focus’ steering wheel to the left in a bid to aid his assault. He inched ahead of team-mate and national hero Carlos Sainz in the final stage but, considering the Spaniard is competing with co-driver Marc Marti for the first time in his career, he holds a respectable eighth. Tommi Mäkinen, driving the Subaru Impreza in its 100th World Championship rally, was ninth after suffering transmission problems earlier in the day, but then dropped to 12th in the final stage when he went off the road and into a ditch. Markko Märtin (Ford) has therefore moved into ninth with a comfortable advantage over 10th placed Harri Rovanperä (Peugeot). Citroën and Skoda lost cars in the final stage; Thomas Rådström out when he went off the road and damaged a rear wheel, and Gabriel Pozzo, on his debut for Skoda, retiring with an oil leak.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Gr.N P. Tsjoen / D. Colebunders

As Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava is a round of the FIA Junior World Rally Championship, the leading Group N contenders are not in Spain, however Mitsubishi dominates the category with the limited crews contesting the event. Pieter Tsjoen currently leads in his LANCER, the Belgian holding a staggering five and a half minute advantage to second placed Tobias Johansson, also in a LANCER. Mitsubishi drivers hold the top four positions and six of the top eight positions in the category.

Still to come...

The second leg of Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava takes the remaining crews into the hills northwest of Lloret de Mar for a loop of three stages, each run twice. Crews leave the coastal resort at 08:00 hrs for 112 competitive kilometres of competition, over less abrasive roads than today, before returning for the overnight halt at 20:00 hrs.