Monte-Carlo: Loeb unstoppable, Ogier in pain

Sébastien Loeb came to Monte-Carlo to fight at the front of the peloton and he made it known. Systematically 2nd in the first two specials of the weekend contested on Thursday night and beaten by Sébastien Ogier (+6“7 behind), the nine-time world champion hit hard this Friday morning.

D’entrée, l’Alsacien a envoyé un message à son homologue de Toyota et aux autres concurrents. Alors que la victoire de spéciale de Sébastien Ogier se dessinait, Sébastien Loeb, dernier à effectuer son passage, a pris tout le monde de court en s’offrant le scratch avec 1“2 d’avance sur le Gapençais. Une performance qui lui permettait de revenir à 5“5 avant les deux dernières spéciales de la matinée.

In great shape, the man who just finished 2nd in the last Dakar was back on track during SS4. With a time of 7'40"1 in the shortest and fastest special of the day, Sébastien Loeb scored a second scratch to come back to within 2 seconds of the leader! Enough to consider a nice last passage before the lunch break.

Coming back on the heels of his great rival, Sébastien Loeb did not go into detail in the last special of the morning. Always very comfortable at the wheel of her Ford Puma, the Alsatian went for her hat-trick to complete a royal morning which saw her take the lead in Monte-Carlo!

À l’approche de la 2e boucle, le pilote M-Sport compte 10“6 sur le nouveau dauphin de l’épreuve, Elfyn Evans, tandis que Sébastien Ogier recule au 3e rang à 13 secondes pleines du leader. Longtemps en souffrance, les Hyundai ont repris du poil de la bête en fin de matinée puisque Thierry Neuville et Ott Tänak managed to finish in the Top 5 of SS4 and SS5. Overall, the two men are respectively 4th and 6th, more than 40 seconds behind Sébastien Loeb and with Craig Breen interposed between the two.

The tire choice should be crucial and Sébastien Ogier could still suffer since he will once again open the road. Last to pass, Sébastien Loeb could take advantage of this to increase his lead at the top of the ranking and thus put himself in a really good position to play for victory between now and Sunday.

Note that this 2nd day of Monte-Carlo was marked by Adrien Fourmeaux's violent exit from the road. So on the attack in SS3, the first of the day, the Northerner hit the rock wall on the inside of a bend and ended his race in the ravine after a gliding flight and a few rollovers. Luckily, he and his co-driver Alexandre Coria are doing well even though their rally is already finished.

It hits very hard to Adrien fourmaux ! Sa Ford part en tonneaux 💥#WRC #RallyMonteCarlo pic.twitter.com/CNDzDRYI4I

- CANAL + Sport (@CanalplusSport) January 21, 2022

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