The 2019 world champion, 34, has yet to win a special on the Sardinian technical tracks after the first five times (out of 21 in total until Sunday).
But he was the most consistent to lead the provisional general classification.
At midday, he was 3 sec 7/10 ahead of the Finn Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) and 8 sec 9/10 over the young Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet (M-Sport Ford), third after a fine morning ( 2nd in SS2 and 3rd in SS5, the longest of the event at 24.7 km).
A good start also for the great Sardinian road specialist, the Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai), winner in 2019 and 2020, who won two of the four stages (SS 4 and 5) to position himself in 5th place overall (at 14 sec 6/10).
Finland's Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), leader of the world championship after winning the last three rounds (Sweden, Croatia, Portugal), is in eighth place, 42 sec 5/10, after having to open the road on Friday.
One of the big disappointments of the first morning is the Belgian Thierry Neuville.
Winner of the opening special on Thursday, the Hyundai driver suffered transmission problems on SS5.
The runner-up from Rovanperä in the WRC general classification is ninth overall, two minutes behind Tänak.
The other beaten of the day is the Welshman Elfyn Evans (Toyota), quickly forced to retire due to a mechanical problem (water leak).
He had however started the morning by setting the best time of SS2, which had allowed him to temporarily take the lead in the general standings.
He could resume the race on Saturday, with a very heavy time penalty.
© 2022 AFP