WRC: Meeke takes early Monte Carlo lead

Kris Meeke leads Rally Monte Carlo overnight in his PH Sport Citroen DS 3, with Sebastien Ogier trailing by 6.9 seconds.

Meeke spun on the opening test of the rally, dropping just under 10s, but the Northern Irishman – who signed a three-year deal with Citroen in the off-season – went fastest on the second stage of the evening by 11s.

For the second year in a row, Ogier has been outperformed by a Citroen on the first night of the Monte. Last year Sebastien Loeb opened the rally with a flat out performance to head Ogier. The Volkswagen driver claimed he was driving conservatively through the first stage this year – although he went quickest  – and the Frenchman reported no issues as he ended the day evening.

Jari-Matti Latvala had been set to round out the top three as the cars headed for the overnight halt, but an incident with a rock or a bridge – Latvala wasn't sure which – caused him to back off and he ended up seventh overall.

Instead Latvala's VW teammate Andreas Mikkelsen holds third, ahead of a positive start for the new Hyundai i20 in the hands of Belgian Thierry Neuville.

Hayden Paddon – the only Hyundai driver running the 2015-spec i20 – put in an inspired time on SS2 to take fourth on that test, and fifth overall ahead of Mads Ostberg. Behind Latvala in seventh, Robert Kubica was struggling and down on power in his BRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

In WRC2, last year's Junior World Rally Championship winner Quentin Gilbert made the most of the prize drive awarded to him for the season, placing his Citroen DS 3 R5 at the head of the pack.

Elfyn Evans suffered a puncture on SS1 and dropped 1m17.8s, but pulled back the best part of 30s on the second stage to end the day 41.7s down and fourth overall, behind Julien Maurin and Armin Kremer. Evans complained that he had been held up by a slower car on SS2, but still went quickest by 26.7s.

LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS2:

Originally on Autosport.com