日: 2023年1月20日

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Sébastien Ogier, navigated by Vincent Landais, claimed a clean sweep of Rallye Monte-Carlo’s Friday morning speed tests to extend his lead at the opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Not even a hybrid unit fault, which left the 39-year-old’s Toyota GR Yaris short on power, could derail Ogier as he stormed to a hat-trick of stage wins in the mountains north of Monaco.

He reached the tyre change zone in Puget-Théniers a whopping 32.7sec clear of second-placed Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe. Ogier’s team-mate Kalle Rovanperä and codriver Jonne Halttunen survived a close shave with an armco barrier to complete the top three just 1.8sec further back.

Elfyn Evans, also driving a Toyota, had been Ogier’s closest challenger since the very first stage on Thursday evening, but the Welshman tumbled down the order when he picked up a rear-right puncture in Briançonnet – Entrevaux.

“If I look at the result of the morning, I can be happy,” Ogier said. “It was not such a relaxed morning for us because of this problem, so I had to push very hard. So far, the result is good.

“Unfortunately, without service there is a big chance that the problem will remain this afternoon,” he added.

Ogier was the only driver to take a gamble by carrying a single spare wheel for the loop. He, like most of the field, chose a mixture of Pirelli’s soft and super soft tyres and managed their wear to perfection on dry roads.

Neuville, meanwhile, had to fight hard to keep his rubber from overheating. Set-up tweaks improved the turn-in on his i20 N but the Belgian did not enjoy his run through final test.

“It was not very fun to be honest,” he said. “The tyres are really on the edge and they overheated after 2km of the stage. I am just trying to follow the road and manage the braking points.”

Ott Tänak, who held third overnight, dropped to fourth as he continued to get acquainted with his new M-Sport Ford Puma. The Estonian trails Rovanperä by just 5.7sec going into the afternoon loop but holds a 15.7sec buffer over fifth-placed Evans.

Dani Sordo found himself more than one-minute adrift of the lead after lacking confidence aboard his Hyundai. It was a similar story for his colleague Esapekka Lappi, who sits seventh halfway through the leg.

A brace of top-four stages times enabled Takamoto Katsuta to grab eighth overall in his Yaris. The Japanese driver leapfrogged Pierre-Louis Loubet, who nursed his Puma through the final test with power steering failure. With no midday service, Loubet may have to deal with the issue for the rest of the day.

Toksport WRT2’s Nikolay Gryazin completed the leaderboard in his Škoda Fabia RS, ahead of PH Sport’s Yohan Rossel in a Citroën C3, and Stéphane Lefebvre in the same car.

World Rally Championship

Rallye Monte-CarloWRCSEASON 2023FIARallies1FIAWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2023Rallye Monte-Carlo01Friday, January 20, 2023 – 1:11pmFriday, January 20, 2023 – 1:11pm

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Sébastien Ogier threw caution to the wind on Thursday evening’s opening leg at Rallye Monte-Carlo to end a spectacular opening night of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season with a useful advantage.

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.

“It’s never easy to start this rally at night, but at least the conditions were not so inconsistent,” Ogier reflected. “There was only one really tricky corner and for once I was not starting first on the road, so I could benefit from seeing the lines from the others. That helped.

“I think it’s been a good start for us and we are happy with that, but obviously there is a very long way to go.

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.

An electrical issue on the liaison section prior to SS1 did nothing to calm Tänak’s nerves, and those tensions were raised further as he completed both stages without fifth gear.

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.

Seventh-placed Pierre-Louis Loubet adopted a cautious approach to his first day as a full-time M-Sport Ford driver. The same could be said for Hyundai debutant Esapekka Lappi, a mere 1.1sec in arrears.

Fourth-fastest through La Bollène-Vésubie – Col de Turini was a promising start for Takamoto Katsuta, but things quickly turned sour when his Yaris developed a handbrake issue on the next test. The Japanese driver haemorrhaged time through the series of tight hairpin bends and languishes 57.0sec back from the lead in ninth overall.

Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 hotshot Nikolay Gryazin (Toksport WRT2) completes the leaderboard. He tops WRC2 by a hefty 16.7sec after winning both stages in the premier support category.

Citroën drivers Stéphane Lefebvre and Yohan Rossel (PH Sport) rounded out the WRC2 top three, with Rossel left ruing a costly stall at the start of SS1 which cost him around five seconds.

Friday heads further north for two loops of three stages covering 105.34km. Morning and afternoon runs through Roure / Roubion / Beuil (18.33km), Puget-Théniers / Saint-Antonin (19.79km) and Briançonnet / Entrevaux (14.55km) are on the schedule. Once the cars leave the comfort of Monaco’s rally base in the morning there will be no opportunity for service until they return just before 1900hrs CET in the evening.

The provisional results can be found here.

World Rally Championship

Rallye Monte-CarloWRCSEASON 2023SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2023Rallye Monte-Carlo01Thursday, January 19, 2023 – 11:26pmThursday, January 19, 2023 – 11:26pm