The no205 Ford Escort RS1600 completed the first stage in 1m46.9 seconds, 2.1s ahead of the no204 Opel Kadett of Vojtech Stajf and Vladimir Zelinka, with their Flexifly teammates, and current Category 2 championship leaders, Ernie and Karen Graham in third in the no203 Ford Escort RS1800.

The second stage of the day saw the no204 Opel take the fastest EHRC time with Stajf and Zelinka posting a 6m12.14, 1.5 seconds ahead of the no205 Escort, with the no203 Ford Escort 11.9 seconds behind their championship rivals.  The no206 Ford Escort of Richard and Lucie Ronay was fourth fastest, +14.9 seconds behind the Czech Opel.

After two stages the James Potter and Marty McCormack are on 8m00.8, just 0.6 seconds ahead of Vojtech Stajf and Vladimir Zelinka, with Ernie and Karen Graham on 8m14.6, 13.8 seconds behind.

The scene is now set for another close battle on the second leg of the Rallye International du Valais with seven special stages.

The two Category 4 EHRC entries that had been received for the rally unfortunately withdrew, with the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth of Daniel Alonso / Jorge Henriques and the Audi quattro A2 of Ville Silvasti and Risto Pietlainen not competing in Switzerland this weekend.

CLICK HERE for the results from the Leg 1 of the 2021 Rallye International du Valais.

CLICK HERE to visit the Rallye International du Valais event website.

IMAGE: PhotoRIV-SvenWalker