Hanninen dominates Monte day one

Last year's Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion was quickest on the first of this afternoon's two runs through the St Bonnet stage, then just 0.8s slower than stage winner and fellow Skoda driver Loix on the repeat.

Loix's stage win pulled him clear of leading Peugeot driver Petter Solberg in their battle for second place. Solberg had looked to be on course for the fastest time at the opening splits, before a small mistake and subsequent over-caution cost him time.

Solberg ends the day 10.8s behind Loix and 0.2s ahead of fourth-placed Stephane Sarrazin, who fell away from his morning pace on the second loop.

Guy Wilks is now fifth for Peugeot UK, with Jan Kopecky raising his pace in the works Skoda to move push Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot) down to seventh.

1994 Monte winner Francois Delecour continues to keep pace with the younger drivers and set very solid times despite his eight-year absence from top-level rallying. He holds eighth place at present and any pressure from behind was removed when Bruno Magalhaes crashed on today's final stage.

After finishing the morning in ninth, punctures on both this afternoon's stages cost Giandomenico Basso several minutes. Toni Gardemeister also fell further down the order with tyre damage on his Peugeot during SS3. The pair are now 13th and 15th, split by impressive ex-Formula 1 man Alex Caffi, with Nicolas Vouilloz 12th after his SS1 delay.

Pos  Driver                 Car        Time/Gap
 1.  Juho Hanninen          Skoda    1h11m33.4s
 2.  Freddy Loix            Skoda       + 44.5s
 3.  Petter Solberg         Peugeot     + 55.3s
 4.  Stephane Sarrazin      Peugeot     + 55.5s
 5.  Guy Wilks              Peugeot   + 1m18.7s
 6.  Jan Kopecky            Skoda     + 1m26.3s
 7.  Bryan Bouffier         Peugeot   + 1m36.2s
 8.  Francois Delecour      Peugeot   + 1m52.4s
 9.  Jean-Sebastien Vigion  Peugeot   + 3m11.3s
10.  Julien Maurin          Ford      + 3m53.2s