Evans takes the lead in Monte-Carlo ahead of Ogier

Ce Rally Monte-Carlo 2020 started on the basis of high suspense. Left for the first special on Saturday morning in second place behind Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), Elfyn Evans (Toyota) rentre au parc d’assistance ce midi en qualité de nouveau leader.

Le Gallois, associé à Scott Martin, a claqué un temps impressionnant dans une ES10 partiellement verglacée. En 20 kilomètres, l’ancien équipage M-Sport a distancé Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) de 13’’8 et Sébastien Ogier de 7’’6, à montes pneumatiques égales !

The gaps between the leading trio are growing little by little. Indeed, Elfyn Evans now has a 4”8 margin on her teammate Sébastien Ogier while Thierry Neuville will have to work hard during the afternoon loop (+16”6).

Behind, almost nothing moves. Sebastian Loeb (Hyundai) is almost two minutes behind and must start monitoring the return of Esapekka Lappi (Ford); the latter took back almost half a minute in two timed sectors.

For his debut in WRC, Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) avoids driving errors, which is not the case for another young wolf, Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota). The Japanese hit the side of the road during SS9 and lost three minutes, the time to clear the snow in front of the radiator of his Yaris.

In WRC 3, Éric Camilli (Citroën) continues to dominate the debates. The Frenchman, although subject to his brake problems, has more than a minute of margin on his compatriot Nicolas Ciamin (Citroën). 

Éric Camilli can also boast of being the first competitor aboard an R5 car, because Mads Ostberg (Citroën, leader of WRC 2), was rejected at 19”6.

The first special on Saturday afternoon is scheduled for 14:08 p.m. and will be to follow in live text on AUTOhebdo.fr.

General classification after SS10: