Former Mitsubishi driver, Gigi Galli made his debut in the Pirelli liveried Peugeot 307 WRC on the Rallye de France-Tour de Corse on Friday and a 'prudent approach' saw the Italian end the opening day 13th overall.

Galli managed to set a string of solid times, gradually improving his pace as the day went on, culminating with the eighth quickest time through SS4. Indeed he managed to set two top ten times and was 14th through SS1 and 12th through SS2.

"I was careful this morning and a little more aggressive this afternoon, but without taking any risks," he explained back in Service B. "I don't want to make any mistakes.

"Overall I am fairly pleased with my performance, bearing in mind the fact that I am getting to know the Peugeot metre by metre, and the Tour de Corse is certainly not the simplest event in which to make a debut with a new car. But I am optimistic, because while still being at the learning stage, I got very close to [Manfred] Stohl in the other Bozian-prepared Peugeot 307 on the third stage, although his car is not fitted with Pirelli [tyres]. The car seems to have more power out of the corners than the Mitsubishi."

Pirelli rally manager, Mario Isola was impressed with his form, especially as this is his first WRC event since February, when he competed at the wheel of the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC in Sweden.

"The prudent approach adopted by Galli showed caution was an intelligent strategy, due to his limited experience with a car like the Peugeot 307 WRC, which is not easy to drive in such a demanding rally as the Tour de Corse," added Isola. "I believe the times he recorded are encouraging, as well as very useful to enable us to further the development of our Pirelli P Zero tyres, providing useful reference information to add to that of the Impreza."

For the record, Galli now lies around 30 seconds off Nicolas Vouilloz, who is eighth and on course to take the final drivers' point.