Day one: 63.18 miles; 8 stages

Weather: sunny 14-28 celsius Chasing a first manufacturers’ title since 1999, Toyota has made the perfect start to Rally Australia with the Yaris WRCS 1-2-3 in the opening test. That first stage doesn’t clean as much as the others, with most of it being used for the pre-event shakedown stage. Esapekka Lappi leads after SS1, but shares the top spot with Jari-matti Latvala after stage two. That’s as good as the day gets for Toyota, however. Lavtala is third at the end of day one, but Lappi and Ott Tanak both lost time with post-watersplash misfires. Citroen demonstrates Sebastien Loeb’s Rally of Spain win last time out was no fluke with exceptional day one pace down under. Mads Ostberg moves into the lead with fastest time in SS3 and remains there for the rest of Friday. Fellow C3 WRC driver Craig Breen is right there with him after a superb day from the Irishman. Hayden Paddon makes his trip across the Tasman worthwhile with an early fourth overall, despite having been out of the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC since Wales six weeks earlier. The German squad is the only one to suffer a Friday retirement after Andreas Mikkelsen rolls out of contention in Sherwood. The Norwegian’s concentration is compromised after he overtakes a tractor a couple of corners before dropping the i20 under braking for a left-hander. There’s more misery for Hyundai when Thierry Neuville drops from seventh to 10th after knocking the left-rear tyre off the rim in SS6. Tanak and Lappi round out the top six on Friday evening, with Ogier’s afternoon position boosted by Neuville’s problem and M-sport’s decision to ask Teemu Suninen and Elfyn Evans to drop time. The defending champion’s up to seventh. End of day one: 1 Ostberg/ Eriksen 53m37.4s; 2 Breen/ Martin +6.8s; 3 Latvala/anttila +8.7s; 4 Paddon/ Marshall +12.5s; 5 Tanak/jarveoja +16.9s; 6 Lappi/ Ferm +28.3s.