Sébastien Ogier etched his title additional into the historical past books by claiming a record-extending tenth victory at Rally Monte-Carlo, the opening spherical of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, Ogier secured victory by a margin of 18.5 seconds over his Toyota GAZOO Racing team-mate Elfyn Evans after a nail-biting closing day by the French Alps.
Sunday’s decisive closing leg threatened to show the tide. Ogier and his Toyota GAZOO Racing team-mate Elfyn Evans opted to hold 4 studded Hankook tires and solely two super-soft slicks – an strategy that proved efficient on the icy roads of Avançon – Notre-Dame du Laus however left them susceptible on the drier penultimate check at Digne-les-Bains / Chaudon-Norante. There, Adrien Fourmaux shone on a full-slick setup, outpacing each Toyotas by a 23.9 seconds and 17.8seconds respectively and momentarily threatening to disrupt the rostrum order.
Fourmaux, making his Hyundai WRC debut after an low season swap from M-Sport Ford, had hoped for drier circumstances on the rally-ending Wolf Energy Stage to maximise his slick tyre benefit. As a substitute, the icy Col de Turini levelled the enjoying area, leaving him on the identical mixed-tyre setup as Ogier and Evans.
Ogier capitalised with one other stage win, whereas Evans held off Fourmaux’s late cost by simply 7.5 seconds regardless of a heart-stopping brush with a rock face.
“What a weekend,” mirrored Ogier, whose first triumph right here got here throughout Rallye Monte-Carlo’s IRC days in 2009.
“I don’t know the place to begin, what a weekend. I believe I’ve had my fortunate star with me this weekend – my uncle, who we misplaced one 12 months in the past. I’m certain he was bringing me every little thing and this one is for him. I don’t know whether it is my final [Rally Monte-Carlo] now. It could be a great place to cease.”
The drama prolonged far past the rostrum battle, as Sunday’s treacherous circumstances wreaked havoc additional down the sector. Toyota’s Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta each slid off the street on SS17, whereas Grégoire Munster’s M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 met an analogous destiny on the very subsequent stage.
Behind Evans, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak ceded fourth place to Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä on the ultimate day resulting from his personal tyre misjudgement. The pair completed simply 4.7 seconds aside, with each drivers now desirous to bounce again on subsequent month’s Rally Sweden as earlier winners of the snow-and-ice fixture.
Defending champion Thierry Neuville salvaged sixth place after a tumultuous occasion. A mix of damaged suspension from an early crash, a deflated tyre and an unexplained electrical subject price him over 5 minutes, thwarting his hopes of defending final 12 months’s win.
M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean impressed with a stable seventh-place end on his Rally1 debut, whereas Rally2 opponents Yohan Rossel, Nikolay Gryazin and Gus Greensmith rounded out the highest 10. Rossel’s standout efficiency earned him an early lead within the WRC2 championship.
