Ogier extends lead in Monte Carlo WRC Rally

Photo: Sophie Graillon

The second day of the competition took place in the Monte Carlo WRC rally, where the athletes had to perform six laps with a total length of 105 kilometers. Also on the second day, all speed stages were dry, which did not make it particularly difficult for the athletes to choose tires.

The leader Sebastien Ogier was the fastest in the morning’s three laps. Elfin Evans was also fast, but in the closing lap of the first lap, Evans flipped his wheel, thus losing 43 seconds and falling from second place to fifth. Meanwhile, Thierry Neuville was second, losing 32.7 seconds to Ogier after five laps. It should be noted that Ogier struggled with hybrid problems in the first lap.

It should be noted that the fifth lap caused problems for several more athletes – in one of the first corners, the rear of the car was slightly hit by Rovanpera, and Pierre-Louis Loubert ran off the road, as a result of which his car lost its power steering.

After the service park, the athletes do the dopes made in the morning again. In the sixth stage, Evans was the fastest, followed by Ogier, who continued to increase his lead in the overall standings. Before the final dope of the day, he was ahead of Kalli Rovanper by 39.1 seconds, but Neuville lost by 39.7 seconds. “I can now focus on cleaner driving, no longer taking unnecessary risks,” says Ogier.

In the final lap of the day, the fastest in this year’s rally for the first time was Rovanpera, who lost 1.3 seconds to Neuville. In the overall ranking, the leader after the first day is Ogier, followed by Rowanper (+36.0) and Neuville (+37.9). Tanak, who has this first rally with “Ford Puma Rally1”, is fourth after the first day, while Esapeka Lapi, in his debut at the wheel of the “Hyundai i20 N Rally1”, is eighth after the first day. As the Finn admitted, he is confused as to why he is so slow, because the car is said to be good.

In the WRC2 class, Nikolai Gryazin continued to be fast, who is the clear leader after the second day, ahead of the closest follower, the home team Ioan Rosell, by almost half a minute. The third is another Frenchman, Stéphane Lefebvre. As the two French athletes admitted, they wondered how Grjazin could be so fast.