Thierry Neuville consummated yesterday the victory in the Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). It was an exciting race, with uncertainty until the end and the top two separated by just over 16 seconds, in which the Belgian scored the maximum possible points – rally victory, leading at the end of Saturday’s stage, and the fastest time in the Power Stage.
After Elfyn Evans (Toyota) took the lead on Friday, Neuville (Hyundai) overtook the British driver on the second stage of Saturday. Evans continued to lose time in the afternoon of that day, in which Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) even managed to overtake Neuville to take the lead. The response was not long in coming, with the Belgian driver returning to the front in the stage that closed Saturday’s day.
There were 3.3 seconds between the top two before Sunday, which had three stages. Neuville was the fastest in all of them, including the closing Power Stage in La Bollène-Vésubie/Col de Turini. In the end, he beat Ogier by 16.1 seconds, with Evans in third place, 45.2 seconds behind. Ott Tänak (Hyundai), who won a stage, finished fourth in this return to Hyundai, with Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport Ford) closing the top five.
The WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger also had thrilling moments. On Friday, Nikolay Gryazin (Citroën), Pepe López (Skoda), and Yohan Rossel (Citroën) were the protagonists in WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger, with the exception of Rossell, who is not registered. The battle continued on Saturday, with the lead changing between Gryazin and López, while Rossel closely watched. On Sunday, the Frenchman set the pace in all WRC2 stages to secure a four-second lead over the Spaniard – he completed the overtaking on the final stage. The Spaniard stood out from Gryazin to triumph in the WRC2 Challenger with an 11.4-second advantage.
In WRC3, it was all about Jan Černý (Ford), who finished 10 minutes and 42.6 seconds ahead of the other entrant: Ghjuvanni Rossi (Renault). In the WRC Masters Cup, Mauro Miele (Skoda) won all stages to finish 9 minutes and 15.6 seconds ahead of Eamon Boland (Ford), with Jourdan Serderidis (Volkswagen) completing the podium.
Final top ten:
