Van den Heuvel pulled straight briefly on the first stage of the day.

Tsjoen seemed to be hesitant as he reached the finish. He struggled to find grip and was checking his tyres.

Meeke sets the fastest time, 2 seconds ahead of Kopecky and 3 ahead of Loix.

Meeke and Loix complained that the roads were very slippery and Loix got hot under the collar a few times on the stage.

Wittmann went off twice. He struggled also with the slippery roads and with front suspension problems. The car is damaged both sides at the front and the rear bumper is hanging off at the finish. On the road section, he is swapping his front wheels and repairing his car.

Casier also reaches the finish with some damage to the car at the front left. He did not want to comment.

Piepers reached the finish of the first stage with his brakes on fire. He seems to have had problems with overheating brakes along the entire stage.

Debackere has been denied the right to restart due to non-conformity of the turbo.

Tanghe sets off slowly this morning struggling a bit to find the right rhythm again.

Snijers meanwhile did not reach the start of the first stage. Powersteering failure and a small in-car fire forced him to retire.

Fiesta front runner Matthias Boon set his suspension a bit softer this morning and now complains it was too soft.