SuggestedLeadIn: Robert Kubica was the quickest in the shakedown stage on Thursday (1st October) ahead of the World Rally in France.

Script: Corsica returns to the World Rally Championship for the first time since 2008.

The drivers used the shakedown to gain some valuable experience of its demanding mountain roads ahead of qualification.

Most frontrunners completed four passes.

But Robert Kubica was among several who joined Sebastien Ogier in doing five runs.

And it seemed that practise did indeed make perfect - the pole was the fastest on the third of his passes, edging Kris Meeke by just 0.8 seconds, safely negotiating the slippery conditions.

Jari-Matti Latvala was another five-tenths adrift in third in a Volkswagen Polo R.

World champion Sebastien Ogier was fourth, 1.6sec slower than Kubica, while Spain's Dani Sordo finished in fifth.

Sordo will be hoping to fare better in qualifying given his experience of the track. He won in Corsica three years ago when the rally was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.