Sébastien Ogier, when he realizes he can take first place in a rally, is like a white shark smelling blood. The 8-time world champion won stage 8 of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, the 18.31 kilometer La Breole/Selonnet 2, and came perhaps decisively close to teammate Elfyn Evans after a day of chasing.
Ogier won the special by stopping the clock in 10'26″3 in today's only night race. No one was able to match his pace, although Thierry Neuville tried – without success – to win the third special in a row after having ringed scratch in PS6 and PS7.
Thanks to this stage success, in which he separated Evans by 4″1, Ogier moved within 4″5 of his teammate, remaining leader of the general classification but without having the inertia of the race in his own hands.
The Welshman managed the good things he did yesterday in the morning, but in the afternoon Ogier and Neuville significantly reduced their gap to him. Tomorrow there will be open war between Evans and Ogier. Thierry Neuville, however, will have to try to further reduce his gap to the Toyotas if he wants to try to get back into contention for victory.
The Belgian is the only one who can interfere in Toyota's plans, but his 16.1s delay puts him in a less advantageous position than Ogier against Evans. It won't be easy for Neuville, but the Rallye Monte- Carlo has often provided several surprises at each edition.
Ott Tanak is now certain of fourth position, now too far from those in front of him and with a good margin over those who follow him. The mistake made at kilometer 7.7 of SS3, when he ended up in a ditch and slipped on a sheet of ice, was decisive for his ranking and his hopes of victory. Only a mistake by the one before him could change his situation.
Beyond the top 4, the real good news of this first stage of the Rallye Monte-Carlo has the name and surname of Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman from M-Sport Ford, back at the wheel of the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, had a solid day, with a good pace and no mistakes. His is a deserved fifth place, but behind him all the others disappointed.
Starting with Andreas Mikkelsen, sixth with the third Hyundai i20 N Rally1. The Norwegian has a few kilometers under his belt with the Korean car, but has much more experience than the Frenchman. Finding yourself more than 1 minute and 20 seconds behind him is certainly not a good way to get back into the top WRC class.
Takamoto Katsuta showed in PS3 why several people turned their noses up at his promotion to official driver. The Japanese lost 5 minutes stuck in a ditch after Asservi slipped due to the same sheet of ice that mocked Tanak and Gregoire Munster, seventh in the general with the second official Ford Puma.
The fight for first place in WRC2 was exhilarating, with Nikolay Gryazin getting the better of the surprising Pepe Lopez at the last minute. The two exchanged first position throughout the day, but in the end the Russian driver (who races with a Bulgarian license) of Citroen Racing came out on top. Lopez, second, is just 1.3 seconds away, while Yohan Rossel is third with the second Citroen C3 Rally2, 4.9 seconds behind second place.
The first stage of the 92nd edition of the Rallye Monte-Carlo ends here. The race will resume tomorrow morning with SS9, the 18.79 kilometer Esparron / Oze 1. The first car will enter the special at 08:05 Italian time.
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