Evans leads Ogier after drama strikes Neuville, Tanak

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans leads the Monte Carlo Rally after a dramatic Friday morning headlined by incidents for Hyundai duo Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak.

Evans managed to survive two challenging stages affected by icy patches to head to the midway service with a 1.5s lead over team-mate and Monte Carlo master Sebastien Ogier, while Hyundai’s new recruit Adrien Fourmaux climbed to third [+6.2s].

Evans moved into the lead after stage four, an advantage he consolidated after stage six, following the cancellation of stage five due to a medical issue with a spectator.

However the drama was turned up a notch in stage six [La Bréole/Selonnet, 18.31km] when Neuville, who was sitting in second spot and 0.8s behind Evans, hit trouble. The stage was held in dry conditions, although crews faced icy patches.

The world champion was unable to stop his i20 N from running on a tight right-hand hairpin which resulted in an excursion into a ditch. Neuville managed to recover without losing too much time, but with his left-rear wheel dragging behind him.

Neuville managed to reach the stage end but ceded 1m58.8s and dropped to ninth overall. After a brief stoppage to conduct repairs on a liaison section, the Hyundai driver headed to service.

“We paid the price of not having enough experience with the tyre for the dry section,” said Neuville.

“It felt like the tyre was quite stable then suddenly I lost the brakes, saw the ditch and lost the rear. The car is fine to go back to service.”

Moments later, Tanak had a wild moment and ran wide into a ditch, resulting in the 2019 world champion losing the tailgate of his i20 N. The Estonian was however able to reach the stage end with the sixth fastest time, but fell to fifth overall [+23.0s].

The drama continued to unravel as both Ogier and Pajari ran wide at the same corner. Ogier managed to escape the moment and set the third fastest time but Pajari was not so fortunate as the impact popped a right-rear wheel off the rim. 

The stage was won by Fourmaux, who delivered a stunning effort to score his first WRC fastest time as a Hyundai driver. The feat, coupled with the issues for Neuville and Tanak, left the Frenchman 6.2s from the lead.  

“That was a demanding stage, it was quite crazy,” said Fourmaux, who was 7.9s faster than Ogier. “I had good fun, took it quite clean with no mistakes. I am happy.”

Fourmaux’s nearest rival on the stage was M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster, following his stunning run to reach the stage end 4.2s slower. Munster climbed to fourth overall, 22.5s adrift of the lead. 

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera escaped the test unscathed to hold onto sixth overall [23.1s], while the top 10 was completed by Takamoto Katsuta, Pajari, Neuville and Rally2 driver Nikolay Gryazin. M-Sport Rally1 debutant Josh McErlean ended the loop in 12th position.