Driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 on Michelin tyres, Franceschi completed the 3.05km test in a table-topping time of 1min 43.10sec, a performance that will put the French championship contender first on the road for leg one.
“I feel really, really nice,” Franceschi said. “I want to enjoy the maximum I can this last race of the year. For sure for the title it will be difficult but I just try to enjoy and have a good pace to finish the year. For the Qualifying Stage it’s nice to open the road because the cuts will be with a lot of mud so this is my strategy.”
Andrea Mabellini was second fastest for Team MRF Tyres in a time of 1min 44.2sec, followed by home hero Miko Marczyk (pictured below), who was 0.2sec behind, and championship leader Hayden Paddon.
Driving a Pirelli-equipped Hyundai i20 N Rally2, Paddon opted for a different strategy to his title rival Franceschi, as he explained: “There are so many anti-cuts on this rally that I don’t think there will be much mud coming out. If you’re a bit further behind [on the road] you can watch what the others are doing.”
The defending ERC champion continued: “It’s a different approach [on this rally]. Wales was all or nothing for us. Here I need to push to keep the rhythm but it’s a no-risk approach. It’s a tricky rally but this stage was not relevant at all to the rally because there was a lot of mud in here, which I don’t think we’ll see so much of tomorrow. It was a nice clean run today.”
Behind Paddon, Jon Armstrong was fifth quickest in his Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally2 with Simone Tempestini next up after a brief slide.
Tempestini, who is being co-driven in the ERC for the first time by Francesca Maior, is also starting his first event in a Fabia RS Rally2 equipped with MRF Tyres.
Yoann Bonato was seventh on his return to ERC action from serious injury with Polish championship leader Jarosław Szeja eighth, Jakub Matulka ninth and Jarosław Kołtun 10th.
After going off the road on his first run of Free Practice, Philip Allen also went off on the Qualifying Stage, getting out of shape for a fast left-hander and sliding backwards into a ditch.
The Katowice Super Special Stage is up next from 20:05 local time. Click HERE for live timing.
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