Frenchman Sébastien Loeb has continued to stretch his lead through the second loop of stages in Sardinia, and has completed the opening day with a 35.7-second lead.
Having established a comfortable cushion over his rivals, Loeb was able to drive more conservatively after the lunchtime service and still pull away from his pursuers, while his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo has maintained a strong second place.
"It's been a really good day for Citroen," Loeb declared. "Both cars in the first two positions - let's hope it continues like this and we don't have any problems like we did in Jordan."
Norway's Petter Solberg has had a superb afternoon for Subaru - moving past teammate Chris Atkinson and Ford's Mikko Hirvonen to grab third position, despite brake glitches.
Team Ford's Hirvonen has remained close to Solberg, finishing the day five seconds behind, with Atkinson now nine seconds adrift of the Ford and being caught by the charging Gigi Galli (Stobart Ford) and works Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who are both recovering from morning punctures.
Having established a comfortable cushion over his rivals, Loeb was able to drive more conservatively after the lunchtime service and still pull away from his pursuers, while his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo has maintained a strong second place.
"It's been a really good day for Citroen," Loeb declared. "Both cars in the first two positions - let's hope it continues like this and we don't have any problems like we did in Jordan."
Norway's Petter Solberg has had a superb afternoon for Subaru - moving past teammate Chris Atkinson and Ford's Mikko Hirvonen to grab third position, despite brake glitches.
Team Ford's Hirvonen has remained close to Solberg, finishing the day five seconds behind, with Atkinson now nine seconds adrift of the Ford and being caught by the charging Gigi Galli (Stobart Ford) and works Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who are both recovering from morning punctures.