WRC – Ogier loses ground, Tänak makes a mistake

The morning of the third day of Rally Monte Carlo was to consist of two timed courses. But the organizers had to cancel the Prunières-Embrun SS9 due to too many spectators. The crews therefore only had the 51,7km of Lardier-et-Valença to make the difference.

The few icy kilometers were enough to trap several drivers. Out of an abundance of caution, Sébastien Ogier (VW) gave 40 seconds back to teammate Jari-Matti Latvala who sees his delay reduced to one minute. But it's Ott Tänak (Ford) who is the main loser since the Estonian went off the road while in fourth place ahead of Mads Ostberg (Citroën). The Norwegian finds himself at the foot of the provisional podium, while having more than eight seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans (Ford).

The drivers who returned to Rally2 were the fastest. Robert Kubica (Ford) shone again with a scratch achieved in 30'41"9 more than half a minute ahead of Kris Meeke (Citroën). The Northern Irishman beat Sébastien Loeb of eight seconds. The Alsatian occupies provisional 15th place.

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) recovered well by finishing a little over a minute behind the benchmark, even if he was slowed down by catching up with Martin Prokop (Ford). Following a poor performance by his teammate Thierry Neuville, the Spaniard finds himself sixth with 16 seconds ahead of the Belgian. The Czech follows in eighth place ahead of Henning Solberg (Ford). Stéphane Lefebvre (DS3 R5) completes the top ten by retaining the lead of WRC2 with less than seven seconds ahead of Martin Koci (Fiesta R5).

The crews will dispatch from 13:55 p.m. If theSS11 of Prunières-Embrun is currently maintained, the cars will then go to Sisteron-Thoard. The videos of the event can be consulted here.