At the end of SS6 (La Ganga), the no3 BMW M3 E30 of Swiss driver Pascal Perroud and his French teammate Denis Giraudet was at the head of the leader board by nearly 30 seconds, with the no1 Lancia Delta Integrale of ‘Lucky’ and Fabrizia Pons in second and the no2 BMW M3 of Jean-Francois Mourgues and Thierry Barjou 14.3s behind the Italians in third spot.

Perroud who chose wisely to start with wet tyres posted the fastest stage times on SS1 (Els Angels) and SS2 (Santa Pellaia) before the no1 Lancia fought back on SS3 (La Ganga).  “Lucky’ then went fastest on SS4 and SS5, with the no2 BMW going fastest on the final stage of the day.

The overnight Category 3 leaders are Michael and Elisabeth Putz, the Austrians posting the fastest Category 3 times on the first three stages of the day in their no25 Porsche 911 SC.  

The no5 Audi quattro of reigning Category 3 champion ‘Zippo’ and his teammate Nicola Arena was on the wrong tyres for the conditions and the Audi was also having an engine issue.  The team managed to fix the problem and, on the right tyres, ‘Zippo’ posted the fastest time on all three stages in the afternoon to close the gap to 41.2 seconds to Michael Putz.  The no19 Ford Escort of Spanish crew of Alex Sabater and Gerard Taberner Clos finished the day third in Category 3, 48.1s behind ‘Zippo’ and 1m29.3s behind the leaders.

The no16 Ford Escort RS1800 of Marty McCormack and Barney Mitchell was leading Category 2 after three stages, but the Irish crew’s luck changed when the suspension on the Escort broke and the crew had to repair the damage to get the car back in the rally.  

Paolo Pasutti and Giovanni Campeis took the fastest Category 2 time on SS4 in the no17 Porsche 911 RSR 3.0 and Carlo Mylle and Olivier Laporte took SS5 in their no26 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0.  McCormack posted the fastest time on SS6 but was over 5 minutes behind the overnight leaders Carlo Mylle and Olivier Laporte, with the Belgian crew 39.7s ahead of Pasutti and Campeis.

Ernie and Karen Graham are the overnight leaders in Category 1, the British crew taking the fastest time on five of the six stages in the no32 Ford Escort Twin Cam.  They finish the day 1m38.1 ahead of reigning Category 1 champions Antonio Parisi and Giuseppe D’Angelo in the no33 Porsche 911 S 2.0, the Italians taking the fastest time on SS2. 

Leg 2 will begin tomorrow morning and feature six further special stages.  The day begins with SS7 (Osor 1) starting at 09h15. This will be followed by SS8 (Collsaplana 1) and SS9 (Cladells 1) before the regroup at 11h25.  The three morning stages are then repeated, with the rally concluding at 18h00 in Parking Rotonda Pont de Pedret in Girona.

CLICK HERE for the results from Leg 1 of the 70th Rally Motul Costa Brava, Round 1 of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship.