The slip surprised the Monte Carlo rally.
Monte Carlo Friday consists of six special tests. PDO
Monte Carlo Rally
Situation 3/17 after the special exam
1. Elfyn Evans, Toyota 35.35.5
2. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai +9.8
3. Sébastien Ogier, Toyota +22.9
4. Adrien Fourmaux, Ford +56.2
5. Ott Tänak, Hyundai +59.4
6. Andreas Mikkelsen, Hyundai +1.30,8
EK3
On Friday, only diesel was started on a 17-kilometer stretch of frozen mountain roads.
The first to plunge uphill Elfyn Evans was surprised a couple of times by the slipperiness. The Toyota driver clearly drove carefully, keeping his car only on the asphalt.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville came close to sliding his car into a ditch, but that didn’t slow down the Belgian. Neuville took a good five seconds off Evans’ lead.
– It was really difficult. There is no traction on the ice. I have a good rhythm and I tried to cut in all the corners, said Neuville.
Team mate At Ott Tänak had worse luck in the same place because he dived nose first into the ditch. However, the spectators saved the Estonian back on the road, but the man’s rally experienced a serious setback.
– I slid wide on the ice and then the stern spun around. I got caught at the bottom on the edge of the ditch, Tänak explained.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta pulled even tighter on the ice sheet. The Japanese came into the situation far too hard.
Even today, the car was recovered from the nose by reversing back onto the road, but the spectators were unclear as to how Katsuta’s Toyota would be saved.
Finally, after several minutes of fighting, it was also successful.
– It was just my own stupid mistake, the driver confessed.
In the end, Katsuta lost by 5 minutes 24 seconds to Neuville, who ran the fastest time.
Ford driver Grégoire Munster complemented the attraction of the same ditch. However, he survived the situation with a loss of less than a minute.