Gus Greensmith had said it since yesterday’s first special: “I’ve been waiting for this car for 2 years” and today he proved to be a different driver than the one seen in the last two seasons. The British of the M-Sport team won Special Stage 7 of the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2022, the Guillaumes / Peone / Valberg 2 of 13.49 kilometers, thus capturing the first career scratch in the WRC.
Greensmith confirms the goodness of the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid EcoBoost, bringing the special victories today to 5 out of 5 after the 4 won by Loeb up to this stage. Greensmith does not recover positions in the general, but many seconds with respect to who precedes him.
The only, but very important, change in the general classification occurred behind the leader Sébastien Loeb. Sébastien Ogier, thanks to the second place in the special, overtook his teammate Elfyn Evans again, thus moving up to second position and becoming the first of Loeb’s pursuers.
For Toyota it is not a small change, because Evans, being one of the drivers in charge of chasing the world title, loses important points precisely as regards the run-up to what could be the first world title of his career.
In front of him he has 2 riders who will certainly not compete for the championship, but behind him there is immediately Thierry Neuville, perhaps the most accredited opponent in the long term to put him in difficulty.
This, for the Pumas of the M-Sport Ford team, was in general an excellent stage. Sébastien Loeb and Craig Breen were tied for third time. The Alsatian, however, had to give up chasing the fifth special success due to the malfunction of the 100 kW electric motor, which did not offer him the extra boost necessary to continue ringing scratch.
Despite this drawback, Loeb managed to defend himself perfectly from the first rivals behind him. Loeb’s same problem occurred on the number 11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1, that of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe. The Belgian crew had to do without the hybrid push and did not go beyond the ninth time, despite only losing 4 “6 from Greensmith.
Instead, both Oliver Solberg and Kalle Rovanpera improve. The two, now out of the game for the most important positions, have improved their pace, starting to better understand their respective cars and the use of the hybrid. Certainly it is impressive to note that it is the younger pilots who find themselves in difficulty with the management and use of the new systems.
WRC – Rallye Monte-Carlo 2022 – Ranking after PS7
Pos. | Pilot / navigator | Car | Time / posting |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Loeb / Galmiche | Ford Puma Rally1 | 1h12’12 “9 |
2 | Ogier / Veillas | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +14 “4 |
3 | Evans / Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +15 “2 |
4 | Neuville / Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +50 “8 |
5 | Breen / Nagle | Ford Puma Rally1 | +54 “2 |
6 | Tanak / Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +57 “8 |
7 | Greensmith / Andersson | Ford Puma Rally1 | +58 “5 |
8 | Katsuta / Johnston | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | + 1’34 “7 |
9 | Rovanpera / Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | + 2’10 “3 |
10 | Solberg / Edmondson | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | + 2’15 “1 |
#WRC #MonteCarlo #PS7 #Greensmiths #joy