The first day of the 45th Belgium Ypres Rally has seen Belgium's Freddy Loix (Peugeot 207 S2000) pull slightly clear of Briton Kris Meeke (Peugeot) and Czech driver Jan Kopecky (Skoda). The top three are covered by less than 15 seconds.

Five-time Ypres winner Freddy Loix once again figured at the top of the provisional order as the field returned to the main square in Ypres at the end of Friday evening's action, although he is closely tailed by Great Britain's Kris Meeke.

At the wheel of his Peugeot 207 S2000 equipped with medium compound BFGoodrich A11 tyres, the Belgian ace was already in front at the early evening's regroup in Wasquehal after posting two consecutive fastest times on the first loop.

At the end of the leg, the Peugeot driver enjoyed a cushion of 5.7 seconds over fellow Peugeot runner Kris Meeke, who was accredited with the fastest time on the rally's opening stage.

After switching to BFGoodrich's soft compound A03 tyre, Loix went on to collect yet another fastest time to conclude the night-time loop in first place, just in front of the quick and battling Kris Meeke.

The Ulsterman, who has won the last two rounds of the IRC and who currently tops the championship's provisional standings, has put in a first-class performance so far on this tricky event which is completely new to him, and is not at all far behind the Ypres Rally specialist.

Third-placed Jan Kopecky (Skoda), meanwhile, has pulled out a gap over Giandomenico Basso (Abarth) and Skoda team-mate Juho Hanninen to complete Day One just 13.3 seconds behind the overnight leader.

The opening leg's dry, dusty stages caught out a fair number of potential winners, including François Duval (Skoda), who crashed out on the very first corner, as well as defending IRC champion Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot), who dropped three minutes following an off on SS1, plus a further three minutes on SS5 due to a puncture.

The only Abarth runner to figure at the sharp end this evening is Basso after his Belgian team-mate Bernd Casier fell back more than four minutes on SS5, also with a puncture.

"The majority of the BFGoodrich drivers opted for medium compound tyres for the opening loop, whereas they had tended to favour soft rubber for the same conditions in 2008," remarked Michel Ducher, BFGoodrich Technician.

"Since then, the cars have evolved significantly and testing has enabled them to make better use of the BFGoodrich A11 on stages which don't provide much grip," he explained.