Ogier continues his winning streak at Monte-Carlo

Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) n’a pas cédé au Rally Monte-Carlo. Profitant d’une avance confortable sur les Toyota byOtt Tänak and Jari-Matti Latvala, the Frenchman maintained a cautious pace to win with more than 58 seconds ahead of the Estonian, while the Finn secured third place. The five-time champion WRC signs his fifth consecutive victory in this event, his sixth with his success in IRC won in 2009, and wins for the 41st time at the highest level of rallying.

The fight for fourth position had an unexpected outcome since it was Kris Meeke (Citroën) who finished just off the podium. The Northern Irishman took the scratch in the 13,58km of La Cabanette-Col de Braus ahead Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai), Jari-Matti Latvala et Sébastien Ogier, mais il a surtout profité d’une erreur d’Esapekka Lappi (Toyota).

The Finn went off the road and had to make a long maneuver to get back on track. The third driver of the Japanese manufacturer lost three positions by losing behind Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans (M-Sport). The Belgian snatched fifth place from the Welshman by just a second.

Bryan Bouffier (M-Sport) secured an eighth position even though he had a scare when he went off the road and found himself stuck in a wall of snow after being trapped by the ice present in the Col de Turini ( ES16).

The Frenchman is ahead Craig Breen (Citroën) and Jan Kopecky (Skoda), winner in WRC 2 with around a quarter of an hour ahead of the Peugeot 208 T16 R5 of Belgian Guillaume de Mevius. Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) was closest to the Czech in RC2, but the Finn still finished more than five minutes behind.

Discover the analysis of the Monte-Carlo Rally carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2150 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.