World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb had to fend off Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo as he opened his defence of the crown in Monaco.
Frenchman Loeb holds the lead in the Monte Carlo Rally, opening round of the 2007 world championship, but swapped stage wins several times with Sordo after yesterday's special stages.
Spaniard Sordo took the opening stage of the day, the third of the rally, and Loeb then won the next.
Sordo and Loeb then won alternate stages from numbers five to eight, the last of the day, as Loeb closed 25.2 seconds ahead.
Ford's Marcus Gronholm is 50 seconds further back, with Subaru's New Zealander Chris Atkinson in fourth, over a minute behind the Finn.
Loeb had been expected to struggle as he had not recovered fully from a broken arm suffered in a mountain bike accident last season but few had predicted Sordo would be his biggest challenger.
However, Loeb admitted he knew Sordo had the talent on hard-surface rallies after the way he performed in Germany last season.
Loeb said: 'We knew since Germany that he can be really fast on Tarmac. It is very close. It could be a big battle.'
The world champion added: 'This morning, Dani started very fast and I wasn't in a good rhythm with the tyres in the wet. Everything is perfect at the moment though, we have a good gap with Dani now and we will try to keep it.'
Loeb revealed he was in some discomfort with his arm. 'I have a bit of pain, but its fatigue rather than anything else. The longer stages were worse for it,' he said.
Ireland's Gareth MacHale in a Ford Focus is seven minutes and five seconds behind the Loeb. MacHale is in 12th place, four places ahead of Eamonn Boland also in a Ford Focus who is 13:31 off the pace.
