WRC – Loeb and Ogier neck and neck in Monte-Carlo

The fight between Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) and Sébastien Ogier (VW) promises to be thrilling Rally Monte Carlo. The reigning double world champion came back to just three seconds behind the Alsatian by taking advantage of his best position on the road to regain 25 seconds in two special stages. It was Robert Kubica (Ford) who was the fastest in the last two specials, the Pole starting in the first positions after going through the Rally2 box.

Sébastien Loeb nevertheless managed to gain more than 15 seconds on his compatriot in the first course of the second stage (SS3: La-Salle-en-Beaumont? Corps). The Citroën star was equipped with five studded tires while his rival made the first pass with four studded and two snow tires.

Jari-Matti Latvala (VW) still completes the provisional podium but is already more than a minute behind. The Finn increased his lead over Ott Tänak (Ford) qui reste en 4e position devant Elfyn Evans (Ford) et Kris Meeke (Citroën) séparés en quatre dixièmes. Andreas Mikkelsen (VW) reste au contact des Britanniques en disposant d’une dizaine de secondes d’avance sur Mads Ostberg (Citroën). Les Hyundai sont encore à la peine avec Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo who complete the top ten.

The battle also rages in WRC2 since Stéphane Lefebvre (DS3 R5) remains at the head of the category with less than two seconds ahead of Martin Koci (Fiesta R5). Quentin Giordano (DS3 R5) still completes the top three but he is only one second ahead of Julien Maurin (Fiesta S2000) who has moved up to fourth place. Quentin Gilbert remains at the top of the WRC3 with two seconds ahead of his compatriot Terry Folb.

The crews will complete the second pass of the second stage of the Monte-Carlo Rally from 14:38 p.m. The videos of the Monte-Carlo Rally can be consulted here.