Toyota driver Sebastien Ogier won the first two special stages of the Monte Carlo Rally, the season opener of the World Rally Championship (WRC) 2022, on Thursday evening and is therefore the leader on Friday.
Of his rivals, only Sebastien Loeb (Ford) was able to match his namesake’s pace in his first WRC start for M-Sport. After two of 17 special stages (SS), the WRC record champion is 6.7 seconds behind Ogier. Third is Elfyn Evans (Toyota, +11.2 seconds).
Adrien Fourmaux (+17.9) and Gus Greensmith (+21.9) follow in fourth and fifth place, two other Ford drivers, sixth and best Hyundai driver is Thierry Neuville, who is already 28.5 seconds behind on Ogier. Craig Breen (Ford), Ott Tänak (Hyundai), Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) and Oliver Solberg (Hyundai) complete the top 10.
The start of the hybrid era with the brand new Rally1 cars immediately presented the crews with a major challenge in the form of two special stages in the dark, including “La Bollene-Vesubie – Moulinet” over the famous Col de Turini. However, the tarmac was dry except for the occasional slight formation of frost.
Nevertheless, it was noticeable to many of the starters that they didn’t take any big risks with the new cars during the first special stages, but above all wanted to get through. “We’re just trying out small things on the car and we’re glad we’re through,” said Ogier.
Only Loeb can begin to follow
The eight-time “Monte” winner did this best from the start at the first start with his new co-driver Benjamin Veillas. As the first starter, he set a time of 10:34.0 minutes on the first special stage, which was unattainable for his rivals.
Only WRC returnee Loeb, who also has a new co-driver on board in Isabelle Galmiche, was able to keep up with a gap of 5.4 seconds. On the second special stage, Ogier’s lead was no longer that clear, with a deficit of 1.3 seconds, Loeb was again his closest pursuer.
As expected, some drivers struggled with teething problems with the new cars – especially in the Hyundai warehouse. Tänak reported problems with the engine and hydraulics, Neuville was not happy with the braking performance of his i20 N Rally1 and Solberg had great difficulty understanding his co-driver.
On Friday, two loops each with three special stages will be driven in the Monte Carlo Rally, the total distance is 97.86 kilometers.
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