Toyota's championship leader Takamoto Katsuta was fastest in the opening stadium stage of the Rally of Spain in the Canary Islands on Thursday ahead of Finnish teammate Sami Pajari.
Katsuta is the first Japanese to lead the World Rally Championship and is chasing his third win in a row after Croatia and the Kenyan Safari. The 33-year-old beat Pajari by 0.4 of a seconds in the 1.89km super-special around the field inside the Gran Canaria soccer stadium.
Italian Roberto Dapra was third in a Skoda with Spaniard Dani Sordo fourth in a Hyundai.
Toyota's reigning nine-times world champion Sebastien Ogier, who is doing only a partial campaign, was back in action and shared sixth place with Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux, with M-Sport Ford's Joshua McErlean fifth.
"Of course, this stage is very different to the rest of the rally, which will be fast and flowing, with cambered corners and high grip," said Toyota's deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen.
"The roads are cleaner than in Croatia and hopefully it's a fair and close fight."
Friday sees a loop of three stages run twice, with a mid-day service.
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