Oliver Solberg becomes the youngest ever WRC Monte Carlo Rally winner after taming extreme snow and ice-covered roads.
He outlined his World Rally Championship credentials with a stunning Rally Monte Carlo victory in one of the most challenging season openers in recent memory.
Toyota’s new signing defied expectations in extreme snow and icy conditions to deliver an emphatic victory, beating his more experienced Toyota team-mates Elfyn Evans [+51.8s] and reigning nine-time world champion and 10-time Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier [+1m10.4s].
In doing so, 24-year-old Solberg became the youngest winner of the event in the WRC era and the first Solberg to triumph in Monte Carlo.
It wasn’t without moments. Solberg survived a heart in the mouth moment in stage 12 when his GR Yaris was caught out by ice and slid off the road and through a fence. Luckily, he was able to spin the car around and rejoin the stage.
Toyota claimed every stage until Hyundai finally got off the mark when Adrien Fourmaux won the super special held on a section of the Monaco GP circuit on Saturday night. The Frenchman had an eventful run up until that point, which included a handbrake failure and a fuel pump issue and a wild spin in stage 12.
All three Hyundai drivers found the going tough on the snow and ice, struggling to trust the tyre package underneath them. Fourmaux had been holding fifth position behind team-mate Thierry Neuville until the latter slid off into a ditch in stage nine that cost three minutes.
Fourmaux impressed through Sunday, setting the fastest time in the penultimate stage before going on to claim fourth [+3m57.1s]. Neuville had to settle for fifth [+4m30.3s] after losing two minutes to a wheel change at the start of stage 15.
The third Hyundai, driven by Hayden Paddon on his return to the WRC top flight since 2018, came home in 11th. The New Zealander was running inside the top 10 until an off in stage 12 that cost six minutes as fans successfully pushed the car back on the road. Paddon finished the rally in 10th.
WRC2 runner Leo Rossel dominated the class to take the victory coming home in sixth ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who lost time to punctures and self-inflicted power steering issue on Friday.
All three M-Sport drivers had to retire on Sunday with various mechanical issues. Jon Armstrong was the most impressive out of the ford drivers while running in sixth. Sadly he slid off the road on the penultimate stage.
