Tour de Corse: Peugeot leg one summary

Peugeot Drivers Fight For Points in Corsica

Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm has finished the opening leg of the Rally de France-Tour de Corse in fifth place, just ahead of his team mate Cedric Robert. The other Peugeot 307 WRC of Freddy Loix ends the leg in 11th.

Today's action consisted of just four long asphalt stages, characterised by uncertain weather which made tyre choice almost impossible. The route took in some new stages, as well as some renowned Corsican classics.

Marcus started the day complaining of a lack of confidence, and made some minor changes to the car set-up at midday service. In the afternoon, his feeling was much better and he was able to set a second-fastest time. His Peugeot was entirely reliable throughout the leg, but Marcus is still chasing the perfect set-up which will allow him to push at 100 percent.

He said: "It's been a slightly strange day. I had a very bad feeling in the morning but it seemed to get better in the afternoon. The conditions have been extremely tricky and the handling of the car has not always been perfect. But we are still in a strong points-scoring place and I am sure we can make up some more positions tomorrow."

Cedric felt that he chose tyres which were too hard for the morning's stages but he had a better run in the afternoon and was able to move up the leaderboard. The young Frenchman's assured and confident drive netted him an excellent chance of moving further up the classification tomorrow, while his car remained entirely reliable.

"It's not been a bad start," said Cedric. "The morning loop of stages was tricky, but as the day went on I grew in confidence with the car and the conditions. This has certainly been a very different experience to my last outing in the 307 WRC, on the Rallye Deutschland."

Freddy had a difficult opening day, struggling with a set-up that was not to his liking. Although he made a few changes at service, he was still not able to find a perfect feeling with the car in the afternoon.

"I've had some real problems today," said the Belgian. "The car has seemed to go from oversteer to understeer. It's been sliding a lot and I cannot seem to build up any confidence at all. Tonight I need to think about things carefully, and I am sure we can find a way to improve our performances tomorrow."

The Peugeot 206 WRC of factory-backed driver Nicolas Vouilloz was forced to retire after SS2 with a broken water pump which led to the engine overheating.

Tomorrow's action consists of another four demanding stages, with more changeable weather forecast throughout the day.

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