日: 2022年1月22日

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Sébastien Ogier regained the Rallye Monte-Carlo lead from arch-rival Sébastien Loeb after a breathless Saturday morning which ended Elfyn Evans’ victory bid.

Two fastest times from three speed tests in the French Alps near Digne-les-Bains earned Ogier a 5.4sec advantage over Loeb at the midpoint of the third and penultimate leg.

This opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship found its teeth as Evans slid off the road and Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak, Gus Greensmith and Oliver Solberg all struck trouble as crews finally encountered snow and ice in the mountains.

Evans won the opening test from Le Fugeret to Thorame-Haute but Ogier drew level with fellow Frenchman Loeb in the overall standings after winning the following test from Saint-Jeannet to Malijai.

Fastest time in Saint-Geniez / Thoard, which featured 5km of winter conditions at the summit of the mythical Col de Fontbelle, enabled Ogier to reclaim the lead he yielded on Friday morning in his Toyota GR Yaris.

“I wasn’t so happy with the car in the opener, I was fighting it a lot,” admitted Ogier. “The last stage was just about surviving. It’s never easy to go through that stage, but we are here.”

Loeb could not produce the same pace that took him to four stage wins in M-Sport Ford’s Puma yesterday.

“It was more difficult today,” he explained. “The road is very dirty in our position and I think we pay a little bit with the super-soft tyres. It wasn’t easy to drive the last stage with two studded tyres and two slicks. It wasn’t easy to keep the car straight. I tried to push.”

Craig Breen was more than a minute adrift in third in his Puma as the Irishman avoided the carnage going on around him.

Evans slid off the road on a left corner in Saint-Geniez, leaving his GR Yaris perched on the edge of a steep drop at an alarming angle. The stage was eventually halted after which his car was pulled back onto the asphalt, allowing the Welshman to continue, albeit with the loss of many minutes.

Ott Tänak dropped more than a minute with a rear left puncture in his Hyundai i20 in the opener, but worse was to follow.

The Estonian tackled Saint-Geniez on unstudded tyres and when he reached the snow and ice he was caught out by the conditions and hit a bank. The impact caused coolant to pour from the engine area and, allied to another puncture, his day was over.

Neuville fought mechanical problems all morning. “As soon as I brake, the car is moving to one side. I will have to finish the day like this,” said the Belgian, who was driving at only 75 per cent. He was 46.3sec behind Breen in fourth.

Greensmith plunged down the leaderboard after his Puma was slowed by mechanical problems and all the drama allowed a resurgent Kalle Rovanperä to climb from ninth to fifth.

Takamoto Katsuta was sixth in another GR Yaris, despite a spin, but Oliver Solberg dropped half an hour after locking his brakes at a right corner and his i20 N went down a bank.

The remainder of the top 10 remained unconfirmed pending notional times being calculated after the final stage was halted. But another driver not there was WRC2 leader Stéphane Lefebvre, who ripped the rear right wheel from his DG Sport Competition Citroen C3 in Saint-Jeannet.

World Rally Championship

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Sébastien Loeb became the oldest driver to lead an FIA World Rally Championship round after a sensational return to dominate Rallye Monte-Carlo on Friday.

As he approaches his 48th birthday, the Frenchman won four of the six French Alps speed tests to lead the first rally of the WRC’s innovative new hybrid era by 9.9sec in M-Sport Ford’s Puma.

The Monaco-based event is Loeb’s first WRC outing for more than a year and, currently, a one-off appearance with the British squad.

Loeb was second after Thursday night’s short opening leg behind old foe Sébastien Ogier. He charged by his fellow countryman in the last of the morning’s three special stages and preserved his advantage in the afternoon, despite a small technical issue.

“The first four stages were really great then we had a little hybrid problem,” he explained. “In the last stage I made a good drive, but maybe it was freezing a bit more. We had some little ice coming out at the end of the stage, so it was a bit tricky.

“I was really surprised when I was doing the best time in yesterday’s shakedown in the first pass. Usually in shakedown I’m not great but with this car I was immediately in the rhythm. It’s not a big gap but I’m happy to be leading after the first full day.”

Ogier dropped to third behind Toyota GR Yaris team-mate Elfyn Evans after a cautious approach on frosty roads in this morning’s final stage. But fastest time on the afternoon repeat promoted him back to second.

A wary run in the same test cost Evans valuable seconds. The Welshman ended 12.1sec adrift of his colleague after a frustrating day learning the intricacies of driving with the hybrid system for the first time in competition.

Thierry Neuville topped an intense battle for fourth in a Hyundai i20 N. His day improved after an eye-opening first stage in which he described the balance as ‘a nightmare’. “I’ve never been so scared while driving,” he said.

The Belgian stiffened his car’s settings and ended 8.9sec clear of team-mate Ott Tänak, with Craig Breen dropping 2.5sec behind the Estonian in the final stage in another Puma.

Team-mate Gus Greensmith celebrated his first WRC stage win en route to seventh. But for a minor problem with the hybrid system, the Briton would have been snapping on Neuville’s heels.

Takamoto Katsuta, Kalle Rovanperä and Oliver Solberg completed the leaderboard. A spin and smoke seeping into his i20 N’s cockpit delayed Solberg.

Adrien Fourmaux was fourth overnight but the Frenchman crashed his Puma down a ravine in the opening test. He and co-driver Alex Coria escaped injury, a testament to the new enhanced safety cell chassis introduced this year.

In FIA WRC2, Stéphane Lefebvre scored a slender lead after a late Friday push. The DG Sport Competition driver started the day 24.5sec adrift of Saintéloc’s Eric Camilli’s similar Citroën C3 Rally2 car, but moved to second behind Andreas Mikkelsen (Toksport Škoda Fabia Evo) when the early leader retired after going off the road and damaging his front suspension.

The former Citroën factory driver hacked a massive 14.5sec from Mikkelsen’s advantage during the first pass of Val-de-Chavagne / Entrevaux before going another 8.0sec quicker than his rival when it was repeated as the final stage.

The last-minute charge enabled Lefebvre to move in front and he arrived back to the Monaco service park 8.0sec ahead of Mikkelsen.

In FIA WRC3, Jan Černý kept his cool under increasing pressure from Sami Pajari to retain the class lead.

The Czech driver initially led the field of M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars by 21.2sec after winning both Thursday’s night stages but was much less dominant in the daylight.

Flying Finn Pajari set fastest times on all bar two of Friday’s frosty tests and at one point reduced the deficit to 14.8sec. However, a slow time at the final Val-de-Chavagne / Entrevaux blast undid his hard work and he ended 26.7sec off the pace.

Monte-Carlo stalwart Enrico Brazzoli ended another 11min 7.5sec behind, followed by Hungarian pilot Zoltán László who trailed the leaders by 11min 48.5sec

Saturday’s action switches west for five stages near Digne-les-Bains. Three morning tests precede a tyre change in the town before the latter two are repeated. The day features two climbs of the mythical Col de Fontbelle, likely to feature several kilometres of snow and ice at the summit.

The provisional results can be consulted here.

World Rally Championship

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