----In the seven years Rally Deutschland has been featured on the World Rally Championship event there has only been one winner, Sebastien Loeb. Known as a tarmac specialist in his rookie years - before he became a six time champion on all surfaces - the Frenchman earned his first WRC win at the German tarmac event in 2002. The years following became predictable as Loeb bagged another victory each time the series visited the city of Tirer.
In 2009 the event was absent from the schedule but is back in full force for 2010. With it is Loeb's continued quest for a 100% win ratio, he leads after the first day of competition, even after brushing the guardrail on his way to set the fastest time on stage two. Clocking 9.5 seconds behind Loeb is his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo. Together they are almost a full minute ahead of third placed Jari-Matti Latvala.
"I love days like this!" beamed Loeb. "Dani and I have pulled out more than a minute over our nearest rivals. I don't think we could have asked for much more. This afternoon, I set only one fastest time but it's always a bit trickier second time through. The others don't make the same little mistakes as in the first passage. In fact, I got caught out and stalled in a hairpin! But it's all going well and I'm looking forward to the second day in a relaxed frame of mind."
Back with the main team Sordo is looking to maximize his point haul this weekend as a tarmac specialist after having been placed in the Junior team for Rally Finland. The Spaniard will race for the Citroen Jr. squad on all remaining gravel rallies, but for now it's his time to shine in a car equally prepared to Loeb's. With his help it looks like the team is destined for a one, two finish. And with no announced team orders Sordo is positioned perfectly to inherit the lead should Loeb finally trip up in Germany.
"We were chasing a scratch time all day," explained Sordo. "It's good to be second, and good to be only a handful of seconds behind Seb, but that's not the most important thing for me. I'm very pleased to have been in the rhythm in each split in each stage. I've been looking for this kind of consistency and I'm happy to have found it today. It's all very positive but there's no sense in getting carried away."
After Mikko Hirvonen stuffed his Ford Focus in the grass and stalled, the blue oval team has been represented by Latvala, who admittedly would rather be back on the gravel in Finland. As seen in Bulgaria the Focus seems to lack the same pace on tarmac that the Citroen C4 has. Sebastien Ogier's C4 is just 6.2 second away from taking third from the Finn.
While still a full minutes down from the leader Latvala is happy with improvements to the car, "My target for this rally was to finish in the top five. Tonight I'm in third, so I'm very happy with that. It's a strange feeling for me to be in a podium position in an asphalt rally. The car has improved since the last asphalt round in Bulgaria, with a different engine mapping and damper set-up, and it feels more stable."
Not so happy is teammate Hirvonen who lost fourth to Ogier when the Frenchman went faster on stage five, "There was a lot of dirt on the road this morning and it was difficult to find my confidence with the changing grip. I lost some seconds because of that but perhaps I was also over-cautious. There was no pattern as to how or where I lost time."
If it hadn't been for troubles a few Citroen drivers have had Latvala and Hirvonen might have found themselves further down the order. Ogier's pace in the afternoon was well enough for a podium spot but problems in the morning with his anti-stall prevented him to challenge for the top three early on. With the problem fixed and the longest stage of the year looming ahead for tomorrow the Frenchman may very well have a chance to break away from the rival Fords.
"It was quite a difficult morning," said Ogier after the first three stages. "From time to time the engine kept stalling on hairpin bends. It meant that I wasn't able to build up full confidence on these roads and I never really found the ideal pace." By the afternoon his mood was much improved, "The car was perfect and I was able to go quickly. Now we need to continue like this. If we were able to get a podium, that would be a fantastic result for our first Rallye Deutschland in a WRC car."
Returning to the WRC in over a year was Francois Duval, driving for the Ford Stobart team. The Belgian is no stranger to paved roads near beautiful vineyards and could have been much quicker today had the center differential not failed. With only rear wheel driver Duval made the most of it to place sixth, but is way behind the pace of the top five. Just 4.7 seconds behind him is teammate Matthew Wilson in seventh.
Eighth went to Kimi Raikkonen who is still learning how to wrangle a WRC car. The former Formula 1 champion never had to use a handbrake on a 180 degree turn in his F1 Ferrari. The goal is just to finish the event this time around. Every kilometer is a new lesson for the rookie rally driver. Also new to Germany is America's Ken Block. Running in a privateer Focus prepared by M-Sport the famous Gymkhana driver sits tenth, right behind Petter Solberg.
The Norwegian is not new to Rally Deutschland. Like Ogier his morning was less than ideal, a puncture on the first stage put him behind the eight ball. Solberg set the fastest time on stage 4, trying to make up ground but another delay on the final stage meant he was doomed to ninth, almost 5 minutes from Leb.
"It's not been the best day today," lamented Solberg. "That puncture on the first stage cost us lot of time, and then again we lost time when we hade to change the wheel again on the final stage after we touched a bank. That last one was my own fault, as we came wide in corner. We were 2 seconds faster than Loeb when it happened, so apart from the punctures, I think we have proved that we have the speed with this awesome car!"
Tomorrow brings four stages looped twice including the notorious Panzerplatte. The military stage has been lengthened this year to 48 km (30 miles), becoming more daunting than ever as the longest stage on the WRC calendar. This will be one of the hardest tests faced by the crews in 2010. The stage is a tank test road and offers multiple surface changes from concrete to asphalt. Tanks are not the most delicate vehicles on the roads so the road typically is breaking up and will get worse as the cars take it a second time in the afternoon.
Adding to the fun are the Hinkelstones, large concert barriers and rocks placed near the side of the road to keep tanks from leaving the path. For a WRC car the Hinkelstones will serve with the same function, just with more sever results. The "stones" will take a car out instantly as Solberg demonstrated in 2004 when he lost control and slammed into one, making one of the most dramatic crashes in recent history. If that doesn't sound dangerous enough the region is prone to flash rainstorms, making the surface slick and small mistakes serious problems. Which is why Hirvonen is worried about the weather tomorrow, "Thankfully the forecast suggests it will be dry, because I wasn't looking forward to that in the wet."