A slender lead, gained on the final metres of the day: Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN) lead the Rally Australia after the first of three days. They – like their Volkswagen team-mates Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) in third and Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (N/N) in fourth – successfully mastered a truly Herculean task.
As the leading three crews in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), the three Polo R WRC duos had the honour of opening the road. A task that is both a blessing and a curse: for vast stretches of the day’s opening 125.11 kilometres of special stage, they did their rivals behind them the favour of sweeping the gravel roads free of the loose gravel, thus making the route faster for their opponents. However, the final stage of the day did see the Volkswagen drivers benefit from the dust they whipped up, which made visibility awkward for a number of the duos behind them
Latvala/Anttila go into Saturday with a slender lead of just two seconds over Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (GB/IRL, Citroën), with team-mates Ogier/Ingrassia a further 2.6 seconds back. They are followed by Mikkelsen/Fløene, who trail the leading duo by just 12.9 seconds.
The Rally Australia developed into a real thriller on day one. Hyundai, Citroën and Volkswagen all held the lead at various times. After the first third of the rally, the three manufacturers are involved in a tight battle, with just 15.9 seconds separating them in the first five places.
The competitors will face a number of big challenges on Saturday: they must take on the iconic Australian stage “Nambucca” – at 50.80 kilometres, the longest on the rally – not once, but twice. When they return to “Valla” on the second loop, they will do so in the dark.
And then there was …
… the (un)Usual Suspect. On his way back to the service park immediately after the ceremonial start in downtown Coffs Harbour on Thursday evening, Andreas Mikkelsen was forced to make an unscheduled stop in his Polo R WRC. The local police had pulled the Norwegian, currently third in the World Championship, over for an alcohol test. Mikkelsen passed the test without further objection. “I was just below the limit,” he said, with a wink. The limit in Australia is 0.01 per mill.