Here we are, another WRC Season at Monte Carlo. The glitz, glamor and freezing cold temperatures didn’t put off the thousands of visitors attending the event. Could Rovenpera prove to folks that his championship reign was not a fluke? Could anyone prevent the new “flying finn” a dominating start to his title defence? We didn’t had to take long at the opening stages on Thursday evening.
Thursday
Ogier, an eight-time winner in the French Alps, was in a league of his own as he blasted his Toyota GR Yaris to a brace of fastest times, heading team-mate Elfyn Evans by 6.0sec after 40.02km of competition.
An uncharacteristically dry start to this iconic event heightened the importance of tyre management, with several drivers overheating their rubber on the winding mountain passes around the Col de Turini. Ogier, however, remained unphased and – for once – was delighted not to be opening the road.
His late starting position played to his favour as he could pick out any tricky sections by spotting the tracks of his peers. Ott Tänak rounds out the leading trio 9.4sec adrift of second-placed Evans. It was a troublesome night for the Estonian as he kicked off his debut aboard one of M-Sport’s Ford Pumas.
Just one-tenth of a second behind is Hyundai star Thierry Neuville, who dropped around eight seconds by stalling his i20 N after sliding wide on a patch of black ice. Puma privateer Jourdan Serderidis fell foul to the very same corner but fared much worse, losing over a minute as spectators extracted his car from a ditch.
Reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä had to tweak his driving style to keep the soft compound tyres on the front of his Toyota from overheating. The Finn is currently sandwiched by Hyundai cars in sixth overall, 1.6sec adrift Neuville with Dani Sordo 15.0sec behind him.
Friday
Sebastien Ogier opened up a healthy lead over World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera following a dominant display on Friday.
Ogier, competing in a partial WRC campaign once again, delivered a masterclass display to claim four of the day’s six tricky Alpine asphalt stages.
Ogier’s relentless pace will see the eight-time Monte Carlo winner head into Saturday equipped with a 36.0s advantage over Rovanpera, who managed to leapfrog Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville into second across the afternoon loop.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak ended the loop in fourth, albeit 54.2s away from the outright pace. Welshman Elfyn Evans had issued Ogier a strong challenge at the start of the day which was undone by a right rear puncture that left the Welshman in recovery mode in the afternoon. The two-time WRC runner-up did pick up a stage win but will face a 1m02.3s deficit to the rally leader.
Saturday
Rovanpera to reduce the deficit across the afternoon to 16.0s ahead of Sunday’s final four stages. Rovanpera inflicted the most damage to Ogier’s lead courtesy of a crushing Stage 14 win held in darkness.
Ogier remained on course to score a record ninth Monte Carlo Rally victory. Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville cemented his third position, albeit 32.0s adrift of the lead, thanks to two stages wins from the three afternoon tests. Elyfn Evans recovering from a puncture on Friday, ended the day 24.5s behind Neuville and 56.5s shy of the lead.
Ott Tanak was left to carry M-Sport’s hopes following Pierre-Louis Loubet’s Saturday morning crash. The 2019 world champion was however forced to manage a power steering issues throughout the afternoon that left him isolated in fifth and rounding off the top 5 going into Sunday.
Sunday
Going into the final day once again the name “Seb” took the victory at Monte Carlo. Ogier claimed a record-breaking ninth victory at the event with a professional display and holding off his younger teammate Rovenpera to 2nd with Kalle claiming the power stage at the end however.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville held onto third position despite suffering a half spin and hybrid issues during Sunday morning’s loop. The Belgian was 38.1s behind Ogier but comfortably clear of the fourth-placed Toyota of Elfyn Evans, who also lost time to a spin with Ott Tanak making his return back to M-Sport with a respectable 5th place.
Katsuta, Sordo, Lappi, Rossel (In a WRC2) claiming 9th and the class win and Gryazin who initially had the WRC2 class win but received a time penalty after the final stage rounding off the top 10.
