Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 R5) won the super special on Friday in the Rally Il Ciocco, the opening race of the Italian championship. Earlier in the day, Neuville also won the power stage.
After the opening day, the Belgian has a 2.7 seconds lead on first pursuer Paolo Andreucci (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo2). Craig Breen (Hyundai i20 R5) is third on 2.7.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe take part in the Rally Il Ciocco with a double mission. Firstly to improve the automatisms between Neuville and Wydaeghe and secondly to get an asphalt feeling in the run-up to the Rally of Croatia that will be held at the end of April. The third round of the WRC will be the first on asphalt this year.
The first classification stage was driven on a dry and technical asphalt course of 1.98 km. Neuville won the super special with ease ahead of two other Hyundai drivers, Andreucci and Breen. On Saturday, three loops of three classification stages each will be ridden. The Rally Il Ciocco ends in the evening.
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