Thierry Neuville holds the overnight Rally of France lead after setting the pace on Thursday's curtain-raising Strasbourg superspecial.
Citroen Junior's Belgian rising star led the way with a time of 2m44.7s on the 3.63-kilometer stage, and was a relatively comfortable 0.8 second quicker than his rivals.
The same margin covered the next six drivers. Jari-Matti Latvala was second for Ford, half a second clear of Dani Sordo's Mini, Petter Solberg's Ford and Mikko Hirvonen's Citroen – all tied for third.
The star of the afternoon was Sebastien Chardonnet, who was sixth on his World Rally Car debut in a third Citroen Racing Technologies entry. Chardonnet, a protege of Loeb's co-driver Daniel Elena, is tipped to follow in the footsteps of compatriots and namesakes Loeb and Sebastien Ogier, and is backed by the same French federation scheme.
Loeb himself was only seventh, 1.6sec down on Neuville, having been unhappy with his pace notes.
Further back, Mads Ostberg felt he was over-cautious on cold tires as he took 12th, Nasser Al-Attiyah spun and came through 31st quickest, and World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller reckoned his Mini was lacking a bit of power as he set the 26th-fastest time.
Leading positions after SS1:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Thierry Neuville Citroen Junior 2m44.7s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 0.8s
3. Dani Sordo Prodrive Mini + 1.3s
4. Petter Solberg Ford + 1.3s
5. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 1.3s
6. Sebastien Chardonnet FFSA Citroen + 1.4s
7. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 1.6s
8. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 2.5s
9. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 3.6s
10. Chris Atkinson Italia Mini + 4.2s