The 2024 WRC started on time this evening, at 8.35pm Italian time with the first of the 17 special stages of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, the first round of the season
Last year Toyota ended the season winning everything and this year it reopened as it finished a few months ago, that is, ahead of everyone thanks to Elfyn Evans. The Welshman set the best time in 12'12″9 in the 21.01 kilometer SS1 Thoard/Saint-Geniez, fastest of all, therefore the first leader of the event and of the season.
Evans had the opportunity to open the special stage having finished second in the 2023 World Championship (Rovanpera is missing this weekend) so he had no problems using all the possible cuts, also finding the asphalt in perfect conditions compared to the riders who entered testing after of him.
In a completely dry stage, free of snow and ice (in this regard, get used to it this weekend…), Evans put the two Hyundai i20 N Rally1s of Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville behind him. The Estonian, who returned to Hyundai Motorsport after a year in M-Sport, was 5.2 seconds slower, but achieved an excellent last sector which led him to finish ahead of his teammate.
Thierry Neuville, third at 8″3, paid a lot in the third and final sector, with all three Hyundais entering testing with 3 Softs and a Super Soft with the specific intention of saving Soft tires for the rest of the race. rally.This, in the first test, favored Evans, but not Sébastien Ogier.
The 8-time world champion did not go beyond the fourth fastest time, 9″8 behind Evans. Séb suffered a lot from the asphalt made dirty by the three passes of the riders who entered testing before him, but it was the last driver to suffer a gap of less than 10 seconds. The Top 5 was completed by Adrien Fourmaux with the first Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid of the M-Sport team.
The Frenchman, back behind the wheel of a Rally1, despite being 16.2 seconds behind, still put in an interesting performance considering the starting position, ahead of more experienced drivers such as Takamoto Katsuta, third with the third GR Yaris Rally1 and the Ford Puma of his teammate Gregoire Munster.
At the end of the test, the Dutchman stated that he had the wrong set-up of his Puma – too soft – having never tested on dry asphalt before the start of this season. Andreas Mikkelsen's return to the reference class was not the most promising. The Hyundai driver was last among the drivers behind the wheel of a Rally1 car, eighth and almost 33 seconds behind Evans.
At the end of the test, the Norwegian declared that he had a problem with the engine mapping chosen before these two stages. The engine seems to push its car even when it is at low speed.
As for the Rally2 cars, sensational debut for Pepe Lopez at the wheel of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. The Spaniard, together with the new co-driver David Vazquez Liste, made a gap behind him, beating the first of his rivals, Yohan Rossel at the wheel of the first official Citroen C3 Rally2 by 9″2. Very good Sami Pajari and the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. The Finn and the new Japanese car took the third time, just 1.3 seconds behind the C3 of Rossel and Dunand. Of note is the early departure of Chris Ingram. The Briton instantly received a 10 second penalty to add to his overall race time.
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