As we wrote in the previous article, stopping for the chicanes creates dirt. They injured the driver after the first speed stage Ott Tanak, who failed to stop in time. Tanak then broke the rhythm and eventually finished 5th in 9.6 seconds on the stage.
And the surprise Craig Breen / Paul Nagle with Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC after pure driving came to the first position.
Craig Breen last drove here in 2013 and 2014 and, as he put it, struggles to remember where there is a grip and where there isn't.
Definitely in some places the grip is not good to attack at maximum all turns.
Gradually, Thierry Neuville / M. Wydaeghe got into the rhythm, who started to win stage victories and topped the standings. Neuville did not complain, saying that everything was under control.
The last stage for the first day of CE8 - Zonnebeke 2 was canceled for security reasons.
Thus, after the end of Day 1, Thierry Neuville / M. Wydaeghe led with a time of 1: 04: 27.0. Craig Breen / Paul Nagle did just 7.6 seconds.
Third are Ott Tanak / M Jarveoja in 31.2 seconds. The first three are with Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC cars.
The leader so far in the general classification Sebastien Ogier is sixth in 39.4 seconds.
There are only 8 seconds between the 3rd and 6th differences, so the fight continues tomorrow with 8 new stages.