Thierry Neuville starts 2024 FIA WRC season with a dominant win in Rallye Monte Carlo from Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.
Friday –
Elfyn Evans leads Rallye Monte-Carlo after Friday’s second leg, but the Welshman is under increasing pressure from his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sébastien Ogier. Evans had been 21.6sec clear of his GR Yaris Rally1 colleague after Thursday’s night-time loop, but Ogier is now looming large in the Welshman’s rear mirror after a stunning drive over Friday’s French Alps roads near Gap saw him whittle that deficit down to just 4.5sec.
Ogier won two of the morning’s three speed tests and climbed from third to second after Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville spun his i20 N in SS4. The Frenchman had moved to within 10.7sec of Evans by the day’s midpoint, with the bulk of the time being gained over the ice-patched special stage from La Bréole to Selonnet. The pair were closely matched for much of the repeated afternoon loop, but it was again at La Bréole / Selonnet – held in darkness on its second run – where Ogier shone, outpacing his colleague by 4.1sec to set-up a thrilling showdown going into Saturday’s penultimate leg.
Evans, who was never outside the top three times, admitted that conditions had been difficult to read. Neuville remained very much in the fight at the sharp-end and trailed Ogier by 11.6sec in third. He won three of the day’s six special stages and enjoyed a trouble-free run aside from his early-morning spin. Ott Tänak was lucky to end the day 57.5sec further back in fourth after ice on a right-hander sent his Hyundai sliding into a ditch during SS3. It took spectators just 40sec to get the Estonian back on the road.
Grégoire Munster and Takamoto Katsuta also went off at the same location, with the latter dropping more than five minutes. Adrien Fourmaux repaid M-Sport Ford’s faith in him by delivering an impressive third-best time in SS5. The 28-year-old is returning to the WRC’s top level having contested WRC2 in 2023, and he completed the top five aboard a Puma.
Andreas Mikkelsen, also returning to the top-flight for the first time since 2019, ended the day over one minute back from Fourmaux in sixth overall. Driving a Hyundai, the Norwegian found it difficult to trust the information in his pace notes with surface conditions changing constantly. Seventh-placed Munster reached the overnight halt 28.2sec further back in his Puma, while WRC2 contenders Nikolay Gryazin, Pepe López and Yohan Rossel completed the top 10.
Saturday brings another full-on schedule with Esparron / Ozenet launching the day at 08.05. Les Nonières / Chichilianne and Pellafol / Agnières-en-Dévoluy follow before the trio are repeated, bringing the day’s total competitive distance to 120.40km.
Saturday –
Thierry Neuville has set up the perfect Sunday showdown at Rallye Monte-Carlo after dethroning Sébastien Ogier in Saturday’s final stage, provisionally netting himself 18 points. Hyundai i20 N star Neuville was undoubtedly the man to beat in the morning. Having held third last night, he pinched second place from Ogier on the day’s first ice-patched speed test and stormed into the top spot before midday as time ebbed away from overnight leader Elfyn Evans.
Ogier seized control by reeling off back-to-back stage wins early in the repeated afternoon loop, but Neuville retaliated by outpacing the Toyota GR Yaris-driving Frenchman in the closing kilometres to carry a 3.3sec advantage into Sunday. With Rallye Monte-Carlo marking the debut of the all-new WRC points structure, Neuville’s late charge will earn him 18 points providing he completes Sunday’s stages. Ogier will receive 15 while Evans, who ended the day 34.9sec off the lead in third, gets 13.
Ogier’s stage win at Les Nonières – Chichilianne was the 700th of his career. That feat moved him ahead of Finnish legend Juha Kankkunen (699 stage wins) into fourth on the all-time WRC list of stage winners. Super Sunday brings the opportunity for the top performers over the course of the final day to collect up to seven points in addition to the five bonus points also up for grabs in the rally-ending Wolf Power Stage.
Evans completed SS10 with no hybrid boost on his GR Yaris. Even with the issue fixed, he could not find an answer to the sudden speed of his peers. Hyundai man Ott Tänak’s hold on fourth was strengthened as he pulled away from his closest challenger Adrien Fourmaux, helped by his stage win on Pellafol / Agnières-en-Dévoluy. The pair were split by over one minute at close of play, with Fourmaux doubling down on his conservative approach after seeing his M-Sport Ford Puma colleague Grégoire Munster off the road in SS12.
Munster’s demise allowed Andreas Mikkelsen to claim sixth in his Hyundai, while Takamoto Katsuta climbed up to seventh following his costly ditch excursion on Friday. Eighth place went to Nikolay Gryazin, who currently heads Pepe López in a thrilling duel for WRC2 supremacy. Yohan Rossel is also involved in the support category scrap and completed the top 10.
Sunday –
Thierry Neuville celebrated his 20th world rally win at Rallye Monte-Carlo on Sunday afternoon, banking a perfect score of 30 points alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe. The Hyundai i20 N star opened his 2024 FIA World Rally Championship title bid with a sublime performance in the French Alps, mastering the ice-patched mountain roads to head Toyota Gazoo Racing rival Sébastien Ogier by 16.1sec.
Neuville shrugged aside early engine issues before launching an attack on Saturday, overtaking both Ogier and his GR Yaris team-mate Elfyn Evans to storm into the lead with a slender 3.3sec advantage. A clean sweep of fastest times in Sunday’s final leg cemented his position ahead of the nine-time Rallye Monte-Carlo winner.
Ogier led for a single stage on Saturday afternoon, but the Frenchman could not repel Neuville despite his best efforts. Evans held the upper hand after the first two legs but time ebbed away from him on Saturday, not helped by a hybrid unit problem. He eventually finished 29.1sec behind his team-mate Ogier.
Ott Tänak placed fourth on his first rally in Hyundai colours since 2022. Mystery engine problems hindered the 2019 world champion throughout the rally although a stage win on Saturday morning proved his potential with the i20 N car.
Adrien Fourmaux equalled his career-best result by finishing fifth overall in his M-Sport Ford Puma. Behind him was Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen, with Takamoto Katsuta almost three minutes further back after sliding off the road on Friday. Yohan Rossel claimed the WRC2 victory with a last-gasp Wolf Power Stage push, climbing to eighth overall in the process. He passed Pepe López in the finale while Nikolay Gryazin rounded out the top 10.
Here’s WRC Rallye Monte-Carlos results: https://www.wrc.com/live-timing?liveTimingMenu=overall_livetiming&stage=FINAL&eligibility=Eligibility
[Note: The story is as per press release]