Not even the time to catch your breath after the exciting morning of the third day of Monte Carlo Rally, which the latter reproposed two other high-intensity afternoon tests. In the midst of the fight between Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb, both the PS12 that the PS13 they have not seen at work Elfyn Evans and Ott Tänak, both from two accidents. While Solberg, who was also the protagonist of an off the road, still regularly resumed the competition, the Welshman from Toyota was unable to do the same feat as the Swede, so much so as to cause the exposure of the red flag during PS11. At the same time, the Estonian of the Hyundai reported some damage to his car, such as to force him to retire.
Speaking of the Korean house, it has also completed a real sporting disaster with the Belgian Thierry Neuville. The latter, already struggling with technical problems during the morning, then damaged the front suspension after a collision in the PS12, further worsening the start of the weekend. Except for the unexpected events of the various competitors, this stage saw the great success of the Toyota Finn Kalle Rovanperäwinner of the test with an advantage of less than a second from both Loeb and Ogier, both protagonists of yet another, exciting close-up head-to-head.
Katsuta off# WRC2022 #WRc #RallyeMonteCarlo pic.twitter.com/oehfHSZVrV
– Worldrally .se (@Worldrallyse) January 22, 2022
The Monegasque Saturday then went to the archives with the second test on the Saint-Geniez / Thoard section, once again characterized by icy road surface, extremely treacherous for all pilots. The same path that re-presented an episode in ‘photocopy’ compared to the one that took place in the morning with Tänak, with the author of the error, this time identifiable in Japanese Katsuta, also betrayed by the dense presence of snow at that point. The Toyota driver was also unable to resume the race, not even with the help of the spectators present in that section. However, exactly as happened in the previous minutes, Rovanperä replicated the best performance establishing himself at the top of the standings, even with Loeb and Ogier still in contention to do better than the 21-year-old Finn. Instead, the two Frenchmen were the protagonists of a strategic choice that was as risky as it was incomprehensible, at least in appearance. While fully aware of the road conditions, Loeb opted for the soft tires, a solution later copied by the French rival. The latter, moreover, also managed to do better than the Ford driver, finishing exactly 5 seconds from Rovanperä, against 21 for the Alsatian, who finished fifth. One day from the end of the Monte Carlo Rally, Ogier therefore commands the general classification right on Loeb, delayed by 21 seconds – here too – by his compatriot. At the same time, Loeb also boasts 1:26 from Breen, running as Ogier’s only effective rival for the victory of the Principality’s rally, which will be decided with the power stage scheduled at 12:20.
Monte Carlo Rally | Ranking after SS13 – Top-10
Pos. | Pilot | Car | Time / Gap |
1 | S. OGIER | Toyota | 2: 19.43.1 |
2 | S. LOEB | Ford | +21.1 |
3 | C. BREEN | Ford | +1: 26.0 |
4 | K. ROVANPERÄ | Toyota | +2: 03.8 |
5 | G. GREENSMITH | Ford | +6: 33.8 |
6 | T. NEUVILLE | Hyundai | +7: 44.1 |
7 | A. MIKKELSEN | Skoda (WRC2) | +9: 37.2 |
8 | E. CAIS | Ford (WRC2) | +9: 59.6 |
9 | G. MUNSTER | Hyundai (WRC2) | +10: 44.1 |
10 | Y. ROSSEL | Citroën (WRC2) | +11: 14.2 |
#WRC #Rally #Monte #Carlo #PS13 #afternoon #signed #Rovanperä #FormulaPassionit