Former Safari Rally winner Conrad Rautenbach ended today’s opening day of Rally GB in the points after a fine drive through difficult conditions on the Cardiff-based final round of the World Rally Championship.

Conrad posted top-10 times on all-but one of the day’s stages and ran in the points from the third stage onwards. The Former FIA African Rally Champion was pleased with a trouble-free day aboard the Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC.

“I struggled a little bit on the first stage morning,” Conrad said. “I didn’t get such a good feeling for the surface, it was really slippery, but after that it was okay. We had some patchy fog in the third stage, which can knock the confidence a little bit – and there was a bit of a mix up on a couple of the notes. It was hard to get the rhythm going after that in the third stage.”

Conrad softened the front and stiffened the rear of his C4 for the afternoon and was pleased with the results.

Emerging from the second run through Myherin, Conrad was upbeat. “Maybe I was a bit grumpy this morning,” he said. “I wasn’t so keen on this rally the first time through here, but it’s good now. Tomorrow is going to be really interesting.”

At the head of the field, Conrad’s fellow Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb was in the perfect position, and poised for a record-breaking sixth consecutive world title. Loeb’s chief rival for the silverware, Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen was five seconds down on the Frenchman after today’s six stages in mid-Wales.

Tomorrow’s second day of the rally includes two loops of three stages further south than today – with the action centred around a the service park in Cardiff.