Former world champion Marcus Gronholm proved his new Peugeot's potential with a storming start to the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally.
The Finn carved out a 10 second lead over Citroen's French favourite Sebastien Loeb after five of the day's six stages, after the first was cancelled for safety reasons.
Too many spectators and badly parked cars by the roadside made conditions dangerous in that opening 22.64-km stage from Selonnet to Breziers high in the French Alps.
Loeb, last year's winner as eventual champions Citroen marked the start of their first full season with a 1-2-3 finish, felt he had made the wrong tyre choice and concentrated on staying on the road.
He still posed an ever-present threat, winning the fourth stage where Gronholm hit gearbox problems before the Finn hit back to take the fifth.
Ford's Estonian Markko Martin was also quick off the mark, winning the third stage and running 13.4 seconds off the lead in third place.
No fan of the rally, Martin said the finish was the best place to be after a third stage run over the same snowy roads from Selonnet to Breziers that had suffered the earlier spectator problems.
"Anywhere else is hell," he declared.
Subaru's Petter Solberg was in sixth place, one minute and 41.9 seconds behind Gronholm, after flirting with disaster in his first rally as world champion.
"About two km from the start, we went off the road on a very icy section and hit a fence-post," the Norwegian said.
"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.
Solberg was only 12th fastest through stage three and said running first, as champion, was a big disadvantage on treacherous roads with no tyre markings from the other competitors to guide him.
Gronholm's time showed that Peugeot's 307 car, radically different from their old 206, would be competitive as drivers contended with freezing temperatures, snow and black ice.