The challenge between the Sébastien, Loeb against Ogier, restarted on time this morning in Special Stage 3 of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, the Roure / Beuil 1 of 18.33 kilometers, in which the M-Sport Ford team driver achieved the best absolute time in 10’08 “9.
Loeb thus gave the first scratch in history for the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, beating the leader of the general classification Sébastien Ogier by 1 “2 and moving to 5” 5 from him. An excellent test for Loeb, even if it should be emphasized that Ogier really made a masterpiece by opening the test first, with a much more treacherous asphalt than that found by Loeb almost half an hour later.
Ogier was also the author of an error in the final part of the test that probably cost him the victory of the special, but the duel between the two Sébastien is nothing short of incredible. A similar mistake was made by Elfyn Evans, a couple of corners before Ogier. The Welshman, third in qualifying and overall, lost his rear in a right-handed corner, ending up hitting the guard rail on the outside of the corner.
Fortunately for him, the impact was not such as to force him to retire. Still very good Craig Breen, fourth in qualifying 7 “2 from Loeb and not yet happy with his confidence with Puma. The Northern Irishman underlined how the car has high potential, but that he is not yet ready to make the most of it. .
It went much worse for Adrien Fourmaux, the first driver in the history of Rally1 to have an accident. And what an accident, one might say. In a mixed section, but with high-speed corners, he came out badly from a left-hand corner, approaching the next one badly. At that point his Puma, instead of setting the curve, slid towards the rock wall. The impact was quite strong, with the vehicle overturning several times until it went off the road and ended up in a ravine.
Once his evolutions were over, Fourmaux and the navigator Alex Coria got out of the car unscathed. This, however, appeared completely demolished. Fortunately, the new protection cell did its job in full, protecting the French crew from the terrible carom. But the car is completely to be thrown away.
The difficult moment for Hyundai continues, with Ott Tanak fifth ahead of Thierry Neuville. The Belgian was the author of a spin in a right-handed uphill bend that made him waste time, but both he and the Estonian are complaining about the lack of competitiveness of the i20 N Rally1 so much that the Belgian did not hesitate to claim to be star experiencing “A nightmare” at the end of the test. Oliver Solberg did no better, ninth in qualifying and also preceded by the Ford Puma of Gus Greensmith and the Toyota GR Yaris of a Kalle Rovanpera in extreme difficulty also in using the extra thrust guaranteed by the 100 kW electric motor.
WRC – Rallye Monte-Carlo 2022 – Ranking after PS3
Pos. | Pilot / navigator | Car | Time / posting |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ogier / Veillas | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 35’58 “5 |
2 | Loeb / Galmiche | Ford Puma Rally1 | +5 “5 |
3 | Evans / Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +12 “4 |
4 | Greensmith / Andersson | Ford Puma Rally1 | +33 “9 |
5 | Breen / Nagle | Ford Puma Rally1 | +35 “2 |
6 | Neuville / Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +40 “1 |
7 | Tanak / Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +47 “4 |
8 | Katsuta / Johnston | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | + 1’11 “8 |
9 | Solberg / Edmondson | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | + 1’13 “8 |
10 | Rovanpera / Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | + 1’21 “9 |
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