Sébastien Ogier, a leader in control at Monte-Carlo

There are still two days of racing left and yet it is difficult not to see Sébastien Ogier very well placed for victory in Rally Monte-Carlo 2023 (January 19-22).

L’octuple champion du monde des rallyes n’a pas seulement remporté 4 des 6 spéciales de la journée, le pilote Toyota a assommé la concurrence tout en écœurant ses adversaires sur toutes les spéciales.

The favorite of the event, already victorious 8 times (7 times in WRC, 1 in IRC), seems untouchable, both by his mastery and by his speed on the roads alpines.

On the evening of the second day on the "Monte-Carl'", Ogier has a nice lead of 36 seconds over his closest pursuer, Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), reigning world champion.

Ogier in full control of the Monte-Carlo

This morning, the Frenchman laid the foundations for an incredible day. Three stages, three victories. A perfect ratio which was added to the two scratches acquired the day before in the Turini.

In the afternoon, with a good lead and a hybrid system that was once again functional, the Gapençais was able to manage his effort and drop two stages out of the three contested. The main danger could only come from himself... or from his tires, which suffer on the completely dry asphalt of the Monte-Carlo.

« I am very satisfied, confided Ogier. Obviously the risk of a puncture was higher, so I took it a little easy. I'm just happy to get the car home tonight. »

Behind, the revolt is still timid. The toughest opponent would have been Elfyn Evans (Toyota), author of the scratch on SS6, but the puncture of the morning has already relegated him to more than a minute in the general standings.

The Welshman fought hard to get back on the podium, but a poor choice of tires slowed him down at the end of the day.

Currently, two drivers can still claim to beat Ogier at the end of this day: Kalle Rovanperä and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). Le Finlandais a trouvé son rythme et signé le meilleur temps lors de l’ES8, tandis que le Belge reste au contact, solidement installé sur le podium.

Tänak lets go

Ott Tänak (M-Sport), qui était dans la lutte avec les deux pilotes précédemment cités, a perdu pied dans l’après-midi. Toujours en mode découverte de sa Ford Puma, l’Estonien est relégué à 17 secondes d’une place dans le top 3… et se retrouve sous la menace directe d’Evans.

Behind, a gap formed between 5th and 6th place. Dani Sordo (Hyundai) still occupies this 6th position but finds himself directly threatened by an increasingly confident Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota).

The Spaniard, off the pace since the start of the morning, was completely incomprehensible. “The feeling is not bad but the times are not good, Sordo blurted. We waste the same amount of time all the time. The car was too soft here and we scraped the bottom all over the road. I don't have the precision I really need so I'll try to do something different for tomorrow. »

Ghostly Lappi, courageous Loubet

The experienced Hyundai driver can nevertheless boast of not being last on a regular basis: Esapekka Lappi is transparent and often lags behind in this Monte-Carlo. The Finn is already almost 2 minutes behind the leader, without experiencing any particular problems.

Finally, Pierre-Louis Loubet had a very sporty afternoon: deprived of power steering since SS5, the Frenchman insisted on finishing his day without giving up.

It's now done, but the M-Sport driver lost around ten minutes as well as several liters of sweat. “If you want to practice doing something very difficult, you should drive a car without power steering. It is very good ! », he said ironically upon arrival.

The Corsican will leave tomorrow with an operational Ford Puma and the firm intention of showing off, even if the Top 10 is already out of reach.

The general classification after SS8: 

WRC2: Gryazin solid, three French people in the Top 5

In the lower division, Nikolay Gryazin remains leader of the Monte-Carlo Rally. The Russian did not rest on his laurels however and continued to attack with his new Skoda Fabia RS Evo and now has a 29 second lead over Yohan Rossel.

Another Citroën is 3rd, that of Stéphane Lefebvre. Adrien fourmaux is 5th but already well behind, 1'25 from the leader. The man of this day is Oliver Solberg, who achieved the scratch on 5 of the 6 special stages on the program. The Swede, who is not eligible to score points in the WRC2 championship, moved up to 7th place in the category.

The WRC2 general classification after SS8:

ALSO READ > Route, timetables… The guide to the 2023 Monte-Carlo Rally