Australia WRC: Mikkelsen dominates opening loop

The reigning Rally Australia winner topped the short Pilbara 1 session by just over a second, using his favourable road position to then boost his outright lead to three seconds after the 19-kilometre Eastbank 1 stage.

But it was on the 26-kay Sherwood 1 stage that Mikkelsen really flexed his muscles, beating the field by 6.3s to take a 16.6s lead into the first service.

Kris Meeke ended the loop second overall, despite going just seventh quickest on the third stage thanks to a mistake. He sits just over a second ahead of Citroen teammate Craig Breen, who looked set to top the Sherwood stage before being blown away by Mikkelsen, and then edged out by Stéphane Lefebvre.

Thierry Neuville survived running near the top end of the order to finish the loop fourth quickest, 20s behind the leader and just two tenths ahead of Ott Tanak and Jari-Matti Latvala – both of whom suffered cosmetic car damage on the opening stage.

Hayden Paddon sits less than a second behind Latvala in seventh.

Freshly-crowned World Champion Sebastien Ogier finished the first loop eighth, 28.8s down on the leader, having to overcome a gearbox issue on SS1 and needing to sweep the sandy roads throughout the opening three stages.

Elfyn Evans for grip throughout the first loop and ended up more than 43s off the pace in 10th. 

Esapekka Lappi endured a tough morning, a power steering issue costing him significant time as he slumped to more than three minutes behind Mikkelsen.