20 career victories in the WRC and two of these were achieved at the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Thierry Neuville did it. Or rather, he still did it. After the first victory in the principality which came in 2020, 4 years later he conceded an encore in a race that has a very sweet taste for several reasons.
First of all, putting your name on the most important rally of all, then becoming the first leader of the 2024 WRC season having filled up with points: 25 from the race with the new score plus 5 extra for also having won the Power Internship. Last reason, even sweeter, having beaten on the field the driver who has won the most editions in the history of the Monte-Carlo Rally, an always sumptuous Sébastien Ogier.
Neuville's masterpiece began on SS9 on Saturday morning, when on the first test of the day on ice he pulled the rabbit out of the hat, making up much of the gap that separated him from the Toyotas of Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier, who were fighting at the time. among them for first place.
Having overcome a declining Evans, the Belgian then had an open battle with the best, Ogier, which lasted until Sunday morning. A continuous exchange of positions until the final thrust, that is, the perfect Sunday in which he won all three special stages (Neuville is the driver who won the most stages in this edition of the Monte) and deservedly brought home the success. A statement of intent: Neuville is off to a good start. But now he will have to be good at continuing and being constant.
Sébastien Ogier, on the other hand, once again proved himself to be the phenomenal driver who won 8 titles despite not having the same race pace because he has been a part-time driver for a few years. This time, however, he had to raise the white flag because he found himself in front of Neuville on one of those weekends in which he manages to be irresistible for everyone, even for a champion like him.
Elfyn Evans was in the mix for the win until Saturday morning, when first Neuville and then Ogier gradually overtook him and separated him. If Friday had been his day, Saturday saw him drop noticeably, unable to maintain the pace of the two French speakers also due to a malfunction of the hybrid on his GR Yaris Rally1, but once the help of the electric motor, things have not changed.
A question of sensations, perhaps, rather than set-up. But that was enough to make him go from first to third place, very far behind and out of the race already at the end of the second stage. Sunday was just a walkway towards the bottom step of the podium, which however will put him in a better starting position than Neuville at the Swedish Rally, the next WRC round scheduled for February.
Ott Tanak's return to Hyundai was affected by a patch of ice at kilometer 7.7, the same one that put other drivers such as Takamoto Katsuta and Gregoire Munster in great difficulty. The Estonian ended up with two wheels off the road and only the help of the public present at that point saved him from retiring. At that point Tanak raced alone until the end, with a fourth place that could not be improved upon or attacked by the others. To see him in action pushing hard we will have to wait for Sweden, where last year he achieved a great victory ahead of the late Craig Breen.
M-Sport Ford started this season with the certainty of not being able to fight for titles, much less for victories. However, Adrien Fourmaux's start to the season has been encouraging. The Frenchman, back behind the wheel of a Rally1 after a season of purgatory with the Fiesta Rally2, took a solid fifth place. At times his pace was interesting, even if dampened too early by the inability to fight for a better position, as well as by being attacked. A situation very similar to the one that involved Tanak in front of him. He is not yet ready to fight for the podium, but the start of 2024 is a good starting point to build a concrete season.
Behind Fourmaux we only find riders who have disappointed, albeit in different ways. Andreas Mikkelsen, returning to Hyundai after many seasons with Skoda in WRC2, stopped in sixth place, more than 5 and a half minutes behind his teammate Neuville. A huge gap, the result of the fact that the Norwegian has not yet found the feeling with a much more performing car than the Rally2 both from a power and aerodynamic point of view. His pace improved beyond what was reasonable after a difficult Friday, but the impression is that Andreas needs even more time to be able to start taking advantage of the car in all its characteristics.
As mentioned, Takamoto Katsuta compromised his race at kilometer 7.7 of SS3, the same point where Ott Tanak crashed out. Contrary to what happened to the Estonian, the Japanese driver from Toyota Gazoo Racing remained stuck in a ditch with his two left wheels. The public helped him to get out and resume the stage, but the operations lasted over 5 minutes, putting him out of contention for the positions that count.
At that point Katsuta could only push hard enough to regain the Top 10, finishing seventh and last among the Rally1 cars due to the retirement of Gregoire Munster. The Dutchman from the M-Sport Ford team retired on Saturday after getting stuck in a wooden fence that protects the road from a ravine.
In a mixed section, Munster misjudged the grip during a left-handed turn (made treacherous by gravel, dirt and dust), ending up slipping on the outside and hitting the wooden posts. His Ford Puma got stuck and the absence of spectators who could help him forced him to retire. He too, at times, showed good things, but the judgment on him can be made after a few races.
Sensational epilogue in WRC2, with Yohan Rossel giving Citroen Racing a victory that was unthinkable, or almost unthinkable, at least until the end of yesterday. The Frenchman won the class Rallye Monte-Carlo on the last special stage, the Power Stage, beating an otherwise excellent Pepe Lopez with a great performance.
Rossel changed gear this morning after always remaining third behind Lopez and teammate Nikolay Gryazin. The Spaniard from Skoda and the Russian exchanged the lead for the first 3 days of the race, but then this morning Rossel changed pace and first reduced and eliminated the gap, before placing the winning thrust in the last stage. Both Rossel and Lopez exploited the tires until the end, probably arriving with little performance and grip at the end, but they put on a sensational duel until the last metre.
Citroen Racing wins at home and takes home a first and a third place with Gryazin fading right at the best moment, while Lopez, despite being a bitter second, signed a signature rally. He will have other opportunities to make up for it.
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