SS1: Els Angels 1

At the end of the first stage it was the Category 4 Keysport Engineering Lancia Delta Integrale 16v of Italian duo ‘Lucky’ and co-driver Fabrizia Pons who led the time sheets overall. A time of 10m 16 seconds on the 15.678km stage was 1.9 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals, the BMW M3 of Jean-François and Aline Berenguer.

The third fastest car down the stage was the Category 2 Porsche RS 911 of Anders and Ingrid Johnsen, the Swedes setting a 10m43.6 to lead their class. Reigning Category 4 champions Valter Jensen and Erik Pedersen were fourth fastest in the BMW M3, the Norwegian duo posting a stage time of 10m46.9 seconds, 30.9 seconds behind the lead car.

Reigning Category 2 champions Lazlo Mekler and Edit Mekler-Miko were 10th overall in the Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAM at the end of the first stage and second in class with 11.07.3.

Category 3 was headed by the Viking Motorsport Ford Escort 1800 of Argentine pairing Jorge Perez-Companc and Jose Volta, finishing the stage 18th overall in a time of 11m11.5 and 8 seconds ahead of their nearest rival.

At the end of stage 1 Category 1 was led by Antonio Parisi and Giuseppe D’Angelo, the reigning class champions posting a 11m33.5 stage time for 29th overall and 12 seconds in the Porsche 911S ahead of the Ford Escort Twincam of Heiko Dlugos and Tim Rauber.

SS2: Els Angels 2

On the second running of the Els Angels special stage the tables were turned at the top of the leader board. Jean-François Berenguer put in the quickest stage time in the dark, with the French driver posting a time of 10m29.9 in the BMW M3, 2.3 seconds ahead of ‘Lucky’s’ Lancia Delta Intergale.

Spanish pairing Daniel Alonso and Candido Carrera went third quickest with a 10m53.5 in the Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4, improving their time from SS1 which saw them finish 9th overall.

The Porsche RS 911 of Anders Johnsen set the best Category 2 time for the second time on the first leg, the Swedish driver finishing 6th overall with an 11.04.1, over 32 seconds ahead of the nearest class rival.

Jorge Perez-Companc also did the double by finishing on top again in Category 3, the Ford Escort finishing 9th with an 11:33.1. Antonio Parisi continued to lead Category 1 in the Porsche 911S in a time of 12m12.1.

Overall Positions after First Leg

Category 4: Jean-François and Aline Berenguer (BMW M3) lead overall with a time of 20m47.8, just 0.4 seconds ahead of ‘Lucky’ and Fabrizia Pons (Lancia Delta Integrale 16v).

Category 3: Jorge Perez-Companc and Jose Volta (Ford Escort 1800 ) are 9th overall after two stages with a time of 22m44.6, 20 seconds ahead of the Porsche 911 SC of Finland’s Pentti Veikkanen and Timo Jaakkola.

Category 2: Anders and Ingrid Johnsen (Porsche RS 911) lead the class in 4th overall with a time of 21m47.7, 58 seconds ahead of the second placed class crew Lazlo Mekler and Edit Mekler-Miko (Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAM) on 22m45.9 and 10th overall.

Category 1: Antonio Parisi and Giuseppe D’Angelo (Porsche 911S) finished the first leg in 16th overall on a 23m45.6, 17.5 seconds ahead of Heiko Dlugos and Tim Rauber (Ford Escort Twincam).