Ice, snow and darkness combined to provide a tricky opening to Rallye Monte Carlo, the first round of the 2008 World Rally Championship. The famous Monte Carlo is renowned for its unpredictable road conditions and tonight's opening two speed tests in the Vercors mountains, east of the rally base of Valence, proved the point. Held on blisteringly fast and predominantly wide roads, most of the 45.70km of competition was on dry asphalt. However, snow thrown onto the stages from the side of the roads by spectators and icy patches made life difficult for drivers in the gloom.Four-time World Champion Sébastien Loeb (Citroen C4 WRC) opened a 12.7sec lead over teammate Dani Sordo after they shared a stage win each. Spaniard Sordo lost time on the second stage when he damaged his spotlights. Behind Mikko Hirvonen, third in the Ford Focus RS, are Chris Atkinson (Subaru) headed François Duval (Ford) with Petter Solberg (Subaru) rounding off the top six. Duval had no information from his safety crew after their car broke down and he slid off the road several times on the opening stage, while Solberg spun on the same test. Toni Gardemeister (Suzuki) was eighth despite clutch and intercom problems, while teammate Per-Gunnar Andersson broke a rear drive shaft on the opening stage and had to tackle the rest of the leg with front-wheel drive only. Leaderboard after Day 1 1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4 23min 38.4sec 2. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4 23min 51.1sec 3. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 24min 22.4sec 4. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 24min 37.0sec 5. F Duval/E Chevailler B Ford Focus RS 24min 51.9sec 6. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza 24min 52.9sec 7. G Galli/G Bernacchini I Ford Focus RS 25min 04.5sec 8. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 25min 31.5sec 9. J-M Cuoq/P Janvier F Peugeot 307 25min 47.6sec 10 F Romeyer/T Fournel F Peugeot 206 26min 29.1sec
Loeb leads Monte Carlo Rally