Reigning World Rally champion Petter Solberg suffered a poor opening day to his title defence, hitting a fence post on the very first stage and struggling with his position as the first car on the stages today (Friday).

The Norwegian was disadvantaged by running first, as those to follow him were able to read the road thanks to his wheeltracks.

"There was a lot of ice on the roads this morning and about 2km from the start [of the first stage] we went off the road on a very icy section and hit a fence post," said Solberg. "Then, halfway in on the approach to a hairpin, the engine stalled under braking and we lost about 15 seconds before we could get it started again – so, it was quite a difficult and an eventful stage for us. It was not the best possible start.

"Being first on the road is a disadvantage. There's a lot of snow and ice on the roads, and at the front I don't have the benefit of being able to read the road and the markings left by competitors up ahead."

Co-driver Phil Mills said: "It was a funny old day, typical Monte. Look back in history and it's always been difficult for the first car on the road. We were sweeping the slush and rubbish out of the way for everyone else, and it seemed like we were always on the wrong tyre. But things should change around tomorrow when were are sixth on the road, and I expect we'll make up a lot of ground."

Sebastien Loeb demonstrated his mastery of the Monte Carlo Rally on the second day of the classic event today (Saturday). While all around him hit trouble, the Citroen ace sailed serenely through the stages to build a massive lead that all but guarantees him of a second straight win on the event.

After a wild and unpredictable morning, the afternoon got off to a slow start with the cancellation of SS10, the 24.79km run through Tourette de Chateau. As with SS1 yesterday, spectator overcrowding prevented the cars from powering through in anger.

This left just one stage for the drivers to tackle in the afternoon, the 28.38km Sigale-Col de Bleine run. The conditions transpired against the drivers, with many slowed by heavy fog mid-stage.

Inevitably, however, the fog didn't slow Loeb. The Frenchman surged through the stage 9.8s quicker than anyone else, ensuring he enters the overnight break with a commanding lead of 1m28.7s. With just four stages to run tomorrow it would take a brave man to bet against Loeb winning his second consecutive Monte.

Markko Martin was second fastest through SS11, clawing back 3.8s on his Ford team-mate Francois Duval, who was fourth quickest. The gap between the two, who sit second and third overall, is now 13s.

Marcus Gronholm was third quickest to cement his fourth position overall in the Peugeot 307 WRC. His former team-mate, Gilles Panizzi, pushed his Mitsubishi Lancer WRC to the fifth fastest time, although he remains a distant seventh overall.

Reigning champion Petter Solberg continues to run fifth overall after setting the sixth quickest time on the stage, while Ford privateer Anthony Warmbold occupies eighth overall.

We'll have full coverage of the final stages from the Monte Carlo Rally here on autosport.com tomorrow.

World Rally champion Petter Solberg suffered a disastrous start to his 2004 campaign when he slumped from fifth place to seventh on the final stages of the Monte Carlo Rally.

The Norwegian ace struggled since losing time on the opening stage on Friday, but was looking set for a decent points haul when disaster struck on the penultimate stage. He went off the road and struck a wall, damaging the suspension and driveshaft of his car, and was forced to struggle to the finish.

"What can I say?" he said. "I just hit a patch of snow, braked a little too late and slid into a wall. It's a shame as I wasn't really driving to risk anything, but these things just happen sometimes. Perhaps I was a little unlucky, but at least we didn't drop out of the points altogether.

"Luckily, we're taking two points away this year, which is two more than last year! Overall, it's not such a bad result especially when you consider that there are 15 more rallies still to go."

Subaru rally boss David Lapworth said: "Monte Carlo has certainly lived up to its difficult and specialist reputation. It's a shame that after such a well-paced performance on Friday and Saturday Petter was caught out this afternoon. But, these things happen and we can take some consolation from the fact that he's got some points in the bag."