Italian leads after competitive day.
Peugeot Italy driver Luca Rossetti leads after the opening day of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, following an intense battle in which the lead changed at the end of every one of the day's seven stages.
Local hero Bruno Magalhaes was also in contention for the lead until he had a high-speed roll in the morning. Although his Peugeot emerged relatively undamaged, he was out of contention and, in the afternoon, the lead oscillated between Rossetti and Peugeot Belgium driver Nicolas Vouilloz, with the Italian claiming the overnight advantage by just 2.4secs.
Francois Duval climbed up to third in his privately-run Abarth Grande Punto, despite the disadvantage of running first on the road and sweeping the surfaces clean for everybody else behind him. He was just ahead of Czech driver Jan Kopecky in another Peugeot, while 1994 World Rally champion Didier Auriol, making his debut on the IRC with a Grande Punto completed the top five. The Frenchman had been feeling unwell at the start on Thursday, but showed his star quality on the stages to head 2003 Junior World Rally champion Brice Tirabassi at the end of the day.
Rossetti, winner of Thursday evening's super-special through the streets of Faro, was in stunning form, but will be first into Saturday's six stages, which might not be ideal. Indeed, the Portuguese tracks are covered with a thick top-coating of loose gravel that the first drivers have to sweep aside and Rossetti stands to lose time because of this, especially on the first loop.
"I'm going to be first on the road tomorrow, so I'm hoping for rain as that will minimise the disadvantage," Rossetti commented, "But, even if it doesn't rain, I'm happy enough as it means I can follow the tracks of Marcus Gronholm in the zero car - and it doesn't happen every day that you have a two-time world champion showing you the way! We will see how it goes. I will try to keep to Marcus' lines. I don't think there will be that big a difference in grip for Nicolas, François and me."
The tight and twisty gravel stages of Portugal are well-known as a classically technical challenge, and they were made even harder in the afternoon by the arrival of a few drops of rain. With the pace at the front so hectic, it was inevitable that there would be a number of high-profile victims.
The first major retirement was Anton Alen, who went out with a clutch failure on his Abarth Grande Punto just five kilometres into the opening stage. Team-mate Giandomenico Basso was also unlucky, ending day one in the top ten, but delayed by having to stop on one of the afternoon stages to clean a mixture of sand and condensation off the inside of his windscreen.
Other retirements included Freddy Loix, who ran out of spare wheels on his Peugeot after encountering a series of punctures on the second run through the stages in the
afternoon, Manfred Stohl - was also the victim of a puncture, which may have been caused by a broken wheel - and Dani Sola, whose Abarth had an intermittent engine misfire. Portugal's Armindo Araujo was also out, having had a turbo fail on the second test.
The IRC 2WD Cup is currently led by Marco Cavigioli in a Fiat Grande Punto diesel, who is lying 20th overall.
"This is just an interim car for me as I will have a new car for the next round in Ypres, but it is interesting to drive and very definitely a good experience," the Italian commented.
