Quote Originally Posted by N.O.T View Post
staring order is an issue that is discussed all the time and the rules never stay constant.

for 2017 the championship leader starts day 1 first, the second in the standings afterwards and so on... but on day 2 and 3 the top 15 start in reverse so the person who is 15th starts first and so on...

this is mainly due to the fact that gravel stages have a layer of soft gravel on top and the first few cars (usually 4-5 but depends on the rally) act as sweepers losing time (in some rallies it can be as worse as 1-2 seconds per km). On tarmac running first does not give you any handicap but the drivers following can gain a bit of time by following the lines of the driver ahead and seeing his braking points.

however running first on a gravel stage can be a benefit as well when you have lots of rain a mud because by corner cutting you bring more mud into the road making it more slippery for the ones following. On tarmac rallies with lots of cornber cutting like spain and germany the one running first also has an advantage because it brings more gravel onto the road.
Would it be a benefit to go early in the snow? I would think that after several cars you would be dealing with compact snow and ice....