The frenchman was first starting in stage 1 and finished first. Immediately after him started Mikko Hirvonen who is equal with Loeb in the championship points but lost 15.4 seconds mainly but the dust of Sebastien Loeb. Mikko said after the final of the stage. “There was lots of dust. We went off in one corner, it was a double right hander. I couldn't see anything in the dust. Luckily we didn't damage anything on the car.”
The dust cause many problems to the teams as Dani Sordo said: “All the time I was in the dust, I didn’t see anything. It was impossible.” He also said that had to lift off the throttle due to the dust clouds.
Results after SS 1:
1. Loeb 15:18.7
2. Latvala +7.4
3. Hirvonen +15.4
4. Ogier +18.0
5. Meeke +35.7
6. Hanninen +37.2
7. Ostberg +41.8
8. Sordo +43.2