Evans spin hands Ogier lead, Neuville suffers puncture

Sebastien Ogier capitalised on a mistake from Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans to end an eventful Friday leading the World Rally Championship opener in Monte Carlo.

The eight-time world champion began the day sitting third after a mistake on Thursday night cost him the rally lead. But a strong showing across Friday’s five completed stages hauled Ogier into a 12.6s advantage over Evans, who was left to rue an error on stage eight.

Hyundai’s new signing Adrien Fourmaux ended the day, that included his first stage win for his new team, in third, 1.6s behind Evans.

Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera won stage four but largely struggled to find the sweet spot on the new Hankook tyres. The Finn will head into Saturday in fourth [+38.5s], ahead of Hyundai’s Ott Tanak [+47.3s] and M-Sport-Ford’s Gregoire Munster [+1m33.7s].

Toyota duo Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari held seventh and eighth, while world champion Thierry Neuville and Rally2 runner Nikolay Gryazin rounded out the top 10. Rally1 debutant Josh McErlean survived the day to sit in 12th position.

Following a midday service, the action continued with a second blast through Saint-Maurice/Aubessagne, [18.68km] which remained damp while the muddy sections had intensified.

However, it didn’t seem to halt Evans as the Toyota driver extended his rally lead over team-mate Ogier to 7.9s with a stage win.

Rovanpera came closest to eclipsing Evans with an effort 3.7s slower. The Finn had made changes to his GR Yaris in the midday service but was still struggling to adapt to the new Hankook rubber.

Neuville was third fastest [+5.1s] in his repaired i20 N following his stage six excursion, which helped the Hyundai driver climb to eighth overall. The Belgian was quicker than Ogier, who felt he didn’t “push enough” in the tricky conditions.

“Thank you to the guys who fixed the car, happy to be here,” said Neuville.

“It is not so easy to be honest, I don’t trust the grip. I tried to do a good stage, but I have too many inconsistencies, it makes it difficult to drive.”

Only four and half seconds split Katsuta, Fourmaux, Tanak and Munster, but it was enough for the last named to drop from fourth overall to sixth behind Rovanpera and Tanak.

Large sheets of ice provided an extra challenge for crews in stage eight, Saint-Leger-les-Melezes/La Batie-Neuve [16.68 km]. The ice only affected a small section of the stage resulting in most drivers opting to run slicks rather than the studded tyres.

An extremely slippery sheet of ice at the 10km mark reduced many to a crawl as they tried to avoid running off the road.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Evans was caught out by the conditions which sent his GR Yaris into a half-spin, costing the Welshman valuable time as he surrendered his rally lead.

The advantage was claimed by Ogier. The Frenchman managed to make the most of his extensive Monte Carlo Rally knowledge to win the stage by 3.9s from Fourmaux, who felt “walking” would have been faster than driving on the ice.

“I tried my best like always. I had many of my family and friends on this stage and I’ve never won it [before],” said Ogier, who moved into a 6.8s lead over Evans.

Meanwhile, Munster hit trouble by suffering the first Rally1 puncture of the season on the new Hankook tyres. The M-Sport driver had been one of the stars of the morning loop to climb to fourth, but a right front tyre failure left him mired in sixth overall.

“I was on a straight uphill and suddenly we lost pressure. We didn’t hit anything,” said Munster. “There is snow everywhere on the edge so you can’t even hit a cut.”

Munster wasn’t the only driver to suffer from a puncture, as Neuville’s front left let go at the start of stage nine – the second pass through La Breole/Selonnet. While fighting the handling of his wounded i20 N the world champion ran wide at the same tight right hairpin that caught him out in the morning.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

“I was punctured far before, front left from the beginning. We tried to go as far as possible, but at some point the tyre just went. I don’t know if we should have stopped to change, but we didn’t know how much it would last,” said Neuville.

Once again Ogier showed why he is a record nine-time Monte Carlo winner by taking the day’s final stage held in darkness by 2.8s from Fourmaux.

“I had to fight for that because earlier in the day I didn’t have a mega feeling, I was on the backfoot. In tricky conditions I couldn’t find the rhythm,” said Ogier, who opened up a 12.6s lead over Evans.

Rovanpera continued to struggle to find a way to unlock a similar pace to his Toyota team-mates, posting the fourth best time some 9.4s adrift. He was 0.2s faster than Tanak, who felt he had at least found some settings on his i20 N to make him feel more comfortable.

The rally continues on Saturday with crews set to tackle six more asphalt stages, comprising of 120.66km.