Punctures had an important influence on Rally Instanbul's major players during this first day of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge's inaugural round of the 2008 season, which still has three more stages to go before completing Day 1.

Peugeot Belgium driver Nicolas Vouilloz, a definite contender for the win, saw his plans disrupted when a puncture cost him 40 seconds on special stage 5. Luca Rossetti quickly stepped in to take the lead and now has a 26.5 second time buffer to manage.

"It's a nice advantage to have, but this rally is a long, long way from being won. It's a question of driving carefully and above all keeping clear of punctures," the Italian Peugeot driver reported.

"If it happened to Nicolas, then of course it can happen to me," Rossetti wisely added. "I have to be honest and say that I am not feeling confident at all."

Former European Champion Renato Travaglia now stands in second position, over a half-minute ahead of third-placed Vouilloz, who in turn is not secure at all with a 0.4 second advantage on Anton Alen.

"I'm going to be doing my best, but I still don't have a very good feeling with the car. We just have to try and do what we can," declared fourth-placed Alen.

As for Giandomenica Basso, after being amongst the front-runners in the opening stages, a roll and puncture on SS 4 cost him much time. Driving his damaged Abarth Grande Punto across the stages, Basso lost a dozen minutes and was relegated down to 25th overall, in addition to penalties coming from service park delays.

After going off-road, Serkan Yazici retired his Mitsubishi on the fifth stage. Giovanni Manfrinato was not able to continue in his Mitsubishi either and stopped at stage six. An accident also forced Michal Solowow to pull out his Abarth Grande Punto.