The Rallye Monte-Carlo, prologue to the 2024 WRC, will start tomorrow evening with the first two special stages of the 5 pm scheduled, but this afternoon we were able to enjoy an interesting appetizer, namely the Shakedown.
The protagonists of the WRC were able to test themselves on the short 3.28 kilometer test called Route de la Garde, also using it to make the final adjustments on their respective cars before the start of the first seasonal event.
The fastest time was achieved by Ott Tanak navigated by Martin Jarveoja. The Estonian crew, returning to Hyundai Motorsport after just one season with M-Sport Ford, stopped the clock in 2'00″5, preceding by just 1 tenth of a second Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, the crew on which Toyota Gazoo Racing will pin their title hopes on not being able to count on either Kalle Rovanpera or Sébastien Ogier on a full-time basis.
At 8 tenths of a second is the second Hyundai i20 N Rally1, that of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe. The Belgians will want to be in the game after achieving 2 podiums together in the last 2 seasons, with Neuville capable of triumphing in 2020 before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic a few weeks later.
One tenth behind Neuville is the second Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, that of the 9-time winner of Monte-Carlo and 8-time WRC world champion Sébastien Ogier. The native of Gap, home of the Service Park in this edition of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, intends to confirm himself as King of the Principality by winning for the tenth time in his career.
The Top 5 was closed by the third and final Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 fielded by the official team, the one driven by Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston. The Japanese was 2″2 slower than Ogier and this means one thing: it will probably be the first 4 of the Shakedown who will fight for the victory and the podium, while the others will be able to fight among themselves for the finishing positions.
In fact, there seems to be a clear disparity between Tanak, Evans, Neuville and Ogier compared to everyone else. Andreas Mikkelsen, back behind the wheel of a major class car after several years, did not go beyond the sixth fastest time, 2 seconds behind Katsuta. Behind him the two Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrids of the M-Sport team.
Gregoire Munster started with an interesting attitude, stopping just 3 tenths behind Mikkelsen and being 7 tenths quicker than his teammate Adrien Fourmaux. While the Dutchman gave good signals, the Frenchman struggled more due to a differential problem on his Ford Puma. Certainly not a good start for the team led by Richard Millener.
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