WRC | Monte-Carlo, PS12: Loeb responds. Neuville in trouble

The Saturday afternoon lap at Rallye Monte-Carlo started again with Special Stage 12, the 17.04 kilometer Saint-Jeannet / Malijai 2, in which another Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, that of Kalle Rovanpera, won.

The Finnish driver won his first special stage and, thanks to that, he even managed to climb to fourth position in the general classification after a disastrous start to the race. Test after test, the Finnish talent managed to get comfortable with his Yaris and, thanks also to mistakes and misfortunes of his opponents, he climbed the rankings and is now at the foot of the podium.

Behind Rovanpera the duel between the two most successful drivers of the last 20 years in the WRC continues to rage, the one between Sébastien Ogier and Sébastien Loeb. The M-Sport Ford team driver managed to finish in second place in the test and reduce his delay from his rival by 4 tenths.

Now there are 5 seconds between the two and the last test of the day could prove decisive for the fight for the first place of the day. The two made different choices for the tires with which to face the snow and ice sections, so we will see which of the two has made the best one.

Thierry Neuville’s black day continues in the worst possible way, because the mechanical problems he had talked about since today’s second race have manifested themselves and he has no longer been able to hide them. One of the 4 shock absorbers, the front right, broke permanently, even coming out of the bodywork.

Neuville did everything to try to find a remedy, but during the test it broke completely, forcing the Belgian from Hyundai to slow down and lose over 3 minutes. Now Thierry is in sixth position, surpassed not only by Kalle Rovanpera, but also by Takamoto Katsuta.

Worth noting is the 3-minute penalty inflicted on Gus Greensmith for arriving late at the SS12 entry time control. Everything also changes in the general classification of WRC2, with Andreas Mikkelsen now firmly in command after the retirement of Stéphane Lefebvre, who subsequently came to a spin in which he broke the right rear rim and also the suspension itself. So Yohan Rossel climbs into second position.

WRC – Rallye Monte-Carlo 2022 – Ranking after SS12