Neuville remains in the lead but Ogier comes back

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) saw his lead increase in the second passage of the second stage of the Rally Monte Carlo. With half a minute ahead of Ott Tänak (Ford) at the break, the Belgian finished the day with a 45-second margin to his advantage.

The vice-world champion must nevertheless monitor the return of Sébastien Ogier (Ford). After losing about 40 seconds this morning sliding into a ditch (video), the pilot M-Sport scored two scratches at the end of the day to take 2nd place with a 3 tenths lead over his Estonian teammate. The Frenchman also took advantage of the leader's mechanical problems who lost time on the last course, notably with a turbo failure.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) remains in 4th place, but the Finn is now more than a minute behind on the provisional podium after spinning several times. Dani Sordo (Hyundai) remains in the fight for 5th place with the DS 3 WRC de Craig Breen. The Spaniard took advantage of an error by the Irishman to recover his position on the last course with a 6-second lead over the Citroën driver.

Andreas Mikkelsen continues to dominate WRC 2 with a lead of almost 3 minutes over Jan Kopecky (Skoda). The Czech managed to regain 2nd place against Bryan Bouffier (Ford) despite a puncture. Éric Camilli (Ford) occupies 4th place in the category despite going off the road, while Quentin Gilbert (Ford) completes the top five.

In RGT, it is François Delecour (Fiat 124 Abarth) who leads the way with more than 5 minutes ahead of Fabio Andolfi. Romain Dumas (Porsche 997 GT3 RS) is almost 10 minutes behind his compatriot after having scratched his mount.

The 3rd stage of the Monte-Carlo Rally will begin this Saturday, January 21 from 8:08 a.m. with the 31,17km of Lardier-et-Valenca.