Umberto Scandola leads the Abarth challenge on the Rally du Valais after the first leg with team Andrea Navarra facing a fight to keep his title hopes alive after a puncture left him in eighth overnight.

At the end of the opening leg of the Rallye du Valais, with three special stages gone, Peugeot Spain driver Nicolas Vouilloz leads the general classification by just seven seconds.

The Frenchman had no problems at all over the opening stages held yesterday, although the team changed his 207 S2000’s fuel pump at final service as a precaution after a fuel pressure warning light came on. In second place, after a spirited performance, is Abarth’s young Italian Umberto Scandola. He ended the leg in the highest overall position that he has ever held on an IRC event, after a strong run through the opening stages. Nonetheless, he planned to make a few set-up changes last night to tighten his car’s rear differential and improve the handling before the start of leg two this morning.

IRC series leader Enrique Garcia Ojeda (Peugeot) is currently third, in a strong position to cement his advantage if things stay as they are. Although the opening leg covered only a short distance, there has already been plenty of drama – thanks to some slippery roads in the cold temperatures. Bernd Casier crashed his Peugeot on the opening stage, blocking the road for the competitors behind him. This caused five drivers to receive notional times, and the rally to suffer a slight delay. Then, on the second stage, Andrea Navarra (Abarth) had a puncture that cost him around a minute: a big blow to his title hopes. The Italian struggled to the finish of the stage without having to stop, but his overnight placing eighth, more than a minute behind the leading Peugeot of Vouilloz.

This means that the highest-placed Abarth after Scandola is Belgian driver Freddy Loix in fourth, 23 seconds behind the leader. The top Super 1600 car is the Citroen C2 of local driver Antonio Galli in a highly-creditable fifth, who precedes the Super 2000 Peugeot of another Swiss driver, Christian Jaquillard. Florian Gonan is the top Mitsubishi driver in seventh, while Luca Betti’s new Honda Civic Type R R3 – on only its second IRC rally – is just outside the top 10, having wisely steered clear of trouble on the opening three stages. Vouilloz said: “It’s been a good start but this is really just a taster before the real action starts tomorrow. We had no real problems, but we weren’t pushing hard as there were some places that were very slippery. The weather definitely made a difference: there were some places where we didn’t get the chance to warm up the tyres as we should have done. Andrea’s problem adds another element to the title fight, but it’s far too early to draw any solid conclusions.”