The first section of the Arbellara-Aullene stage might be downhill and hard on braking, but Sebastien Loeb's ascension to the top of the overall standings was not. Out of six stages contested today on the Island of Corsica, Loeb took all six and never looked back.

The four-time World Champion set the pace on Day One's final stage, racing from one end to the other of the 27-kilometre route in 15:48.9, thereby signing a perfect score so far.

François Duval bettered his Ford teammate this time, taking second place 5.3 seconds behind Loeb, 1.3 seconds ahead of Mikko Hirvonen.

Subaru's Petter Solberg reached fourth on this stage, his best result so far. Jari-Matti Latvala raced his Stobart Ford into the fifth spot, ahead of another works Subaru Impreza driven by Chris Atkinson.

Urmo Aava's Citroen C4 was seventh-fastest ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen's Ford Focus, with the latter finishing his run just beyond the 20-second delay mark.

Ninth place went to Toni Gardemeiseter, again showing steady pace with the Suzuki SX4 WRC. Driving the third official Subaru car, Brice Tirabassi entered the top ten for the first time today.

The Day One leaderboard displays a 32.3-second lead for Sebastien Loeb, well on his way to dominating this rally. The gap between teammates Mikko Hirvonen and François Duval is very tight however at 1.7 seconds, announcing the continuation of their battle tomorrow.

1:11.5 from the rally leader, Petter Solberg moved up two ranks to fourth overall, taking over the position from now fifth-placed Jari-Matti Latvala. The Finn is under pressure from Chris Atkinson, only 2.7 seconds in tow.

Three minutes down from the rally leader, true fights for position await the final four drivers of today's top ten: Toni Gardemeister, Andreas Mikkelsen, Brice Tirabassi and Urmo Aava are all within seven seconds of each other.

Rallye de France-Tour de Corse will continue tomorrow morning at 8:48 local time when the drivers tackle three more routes twice, making for a total of six stages to cover on Saturday.