Monte-Carlo 2023: Perfect start for Sébastien Ogier

This is what we call a perfect evening for Sébastien Ogier. Logically classified among the favorites, the eight-time world champion hit the ground running this Rally Monte-Carlo 2023. Toujours à l’aise au volant de la Toyota Yaris, le Tricolore n’a rien laissé au hasard pour mener déjà la danse dans cette première épreuve de la saison.

The Monegasque evening started perfectly for Sébastien Ogier who immediately set the best time in SS1 after dominating the Shakedown earlier in the day. A scratch which set the pace for the rest since he would immediately double the lead, thus signing a 2 out of 2 to return to the service park in complete peace.

As the second day of racing at Monte-Carlo approaches, Sébastien Ogier leads the proceedings with a 2-second lead over his teammate Elfyn Evans. In the tough in 6, the Welshman seems to have regained confidence at the start of the year and could invite himself into the fight for the final victory. Behind the two Toyota drivers, Ott Tänak et Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) sont embuscade avec respectivement 15″4 et 15″5 de retard sur la tête.

Back home M-Sport, l’Estonien n’a pas connu une soirée facile puisqu’il a dû faire avec une boîte de vitesses récalcitrante sur sa Ford Puma dans l’ES1 avant de hausser le ton dans l’ES2. Le Belge s’est lui fait une frayeur dans la 2e spéciale à cause d’une petite plaque de verglas. S’il a heurté le bas-côté, Thierry Neuville a pu repartir et surtout rattraper une partie du temps perdu.

Reigning world champion, Kalle Rovanperä was not really able to fight for victory in these first kilometers of the race. At the finish, the Finn is in 5th position, 17″1 behind Sébastien Ogier. A more complicated outing, however, for Pierre-Louis Loubet who is already 40 seconds behind after being notably cautious during SS3.

General ranking after ES2

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin also had a perfect evening. Like Sébastien Ogier, the Russian left only crumbs to his opponents by taking the two scratches. At the end of these first specials, the driver of the No. 2 Skoda Fabia RS Rally24 is 16″7 ahead of Stéphane Lefebvre followed by two other Frenchmen, Yohan Rossel and Adrien fourmaux.

WRC2 general classification after SS2

The complete rankings

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