Sébastien Ogier the most volunteer at night

All the drivers competing in Rally1 had announced it. Although taking place at night and in the Nice hinterland, the first special stages of the 91^e edition of Monte-Carlo were more similar to those of Catalonia.

Despite a ribbon of completely dry asphalt passing through the beam of the headlights, the ascent of the Col de Turini nevertheless remained perilous with a roadway that was not very wide and sometimes covered with a film of salt.

After the break observed since Japan and the brevity of the tests, it was not easy to start the championship in the dark. With his 8 previous successes, it was not surprising to see Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) se porter immédiatement en tête.

Of all the contenders, he is undoubtedly the one who has the best experience in this event. Perfectly managing to read the pitfalls that remained present, particularly in SS2, he finished this short start 6s ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans.

The only one to keep pace with the Toyotas was Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) qui partait pourtant à la faute dans l’un des très rares virages glacés du parcours. Le Belge est 4^e at 15s5. The pleasant surprise came fromOtt Tänak. Despite having to learn his Puma Hybrid and suffering from gearbox problems, the Estonian is 3rd thanks to a superb attack on the various passes crossed in the dark.

Not really enjoying these night stages, Kalle Rovanperä got off to a timid start. For him, the watchword was to finish these sections as quickly as possible while accumulating as little delay as possible. He has 17s1 on Ogier, which is not prohibitive in a Monte-Carlo. It's already tougher for Dani Sordo (32s1), Esapekka Lappi (41s4) who had a bit of the same progress as Rovanperä or Takamoto Katsuta who was the victim of a handbrake problem.