The problem lost him over a minute and although he still maintained fifth place overall ended the day nearly two minutes down on rally leader Tommi Makinen.
Victory in the season's first event, in Monte Carlo, was something of a false dawn for Mitsubishi and Tommi Makinen, chasing an unprecedented fifth consecutive world rally championship.
The Citroen driver, who won the event for the fourth time last year, dominated the four-day race from the start to eclipse the feats of four-time victors Sandro Munari, Walter Rohrl and Tommi Makinen.
The Lancer has been the dominant car in world rallying since 1996, and Tommi Makinen's four world title owed as much to his car's speed, consistency and reliability as to his own skills behind the wheel.