Monte-Carlo Rally 2018

11h

The crews are now preparing to compete in the La Cabanette – Col de Braus 2 Power Stage (13,58 km) which should start at 12:18 p.m. Neuville took the scratch in the first run in 10'34″1.

11h

Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) further increased his lead at the Monte-Carlo Rally. The Frenchman beat his direct rival Ott Tänak (Toyota) by a dozen seconds in the second passage of La Bollène-Vésubie – Peïra-Cava where the Col de Turini remained snow-covered.

The black ice also trapped Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) and Bryan Bouffier (M-Sport) who made a mistake in the same corner. The Finn had to reverse but the Frenchman found himself stuck and had to benefit from the help of spectators after finding himself stuck in a wall of snow. But with their lead over their respective pursuers, these incidents did not upset the ranking.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) remained on the attack by signing the scratch in 13'07''8 but his rival Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) was also on a good pace since the Welshman finished being closest to the Belgian with 1”5 delay.

Sébastien Ogier now has a lead of almost 58 seconds over Ott Tänak before the Power Stage. Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) remains third ahead of his teammate Esapekka Lappi who, despite his mistake, managed to gain further time against Kris Meeke (Citroën) who is now more than 18 seconds behind. Elfyn Evans is still holding off Thierry Neuville but his lead is now only 7”2. Bryan Bouffier remains eighth ahead of Craig Breen (Citroën) and Jan Kopecky (Skoda), leader of WRC 2.

 

11h

Mikkelsen remains very slow in this special. The Hyundai driver finished more than a minute behind Neuville's scratch. “I'm saving my tires for the Power Stage. » The Norwegian is in 14th position.

11h

Ogier takes another 11 seconds from Tänak. “We didn't have the right tires but our only goal is to win the rally. There were no easy moments in this event but we keep in mind that there is still one stage left. » The Monte-Carlo leader now has a lead of almost 58 seconds over the Toyota driver before the Power Stage.

11h

Tänak is the slowest after Bouffier, ranking 36s off the provisional scratch. “It was more or less the same as in the first pass. »

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Tänak and Ogier passed the famous bend which trapped Lappi and Bouffier without incident.

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Latvala remained cautious. The Toyota driver finished 26″3 behind Neuville, well placed in 3rd place. “Everything is working as expected. I was running a mix of soft and studded tires but obviously didn't want to attack too much. »

11h

The images of Lappi making a mistake at the same corner as Bouffier:

 

11h

Lappi manages to take another 5”6 from Meeke. “I had to backtrack after making a mistake. » The Toyota driver now has a lead of more than 18 seconds over the Northern Irishman.

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Meeke finished 23″1 off the provisional scratch. “It’s complicated with these patches of ice that we don’t always see. » With Lappi's error, the Citroën driver could regain 4th place.

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Lappi is trapped in the same place as Bouffier. The Toyota driver nevertheless avoids getting stuck and can resume his journey by losing only a handful of seconds.

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Evans finished 1″5 behind Neuville. “It’s hard to resist. Thierry is attacking hard today. » The Hyundai driver is only 7″2 behind the Welshman.

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Neuville takes the provisional scratch in 13'07″8. The Belgian, fighting with Evans for 6th place, is ahead of Breen by more than 15 seconds. “I didn’t want to take any risks. »

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Bouffier finishes it. The M-Sport driver lost more than a minute. “I was told it was no longer icy but that was not the case. » The Frenchman nevertheless had enough of a lead to maintain his 8th place against Breen.

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Neuville almost got trapped at the same corner as Bouffier. The Hyundai driver remained on the road, hitting a wall of snow from behind.

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Breen posted a time of 13'23″1. This is almost half a minute better than Ogier's scratch score in the first pass.

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Bouffier managed to leave. The time lost is unknown at this time. The Frenchman crosses the icy Passage du Turini.

11h

Bouffier made a mistake by shooting straight into a right turn. His co-driver Xavier Panseri is helped by spectators to get the Ford out of the wall of snow in which it was stuck. The Frenchman is 8th with 3 minutes ahead of Breen.

10h

Breen has finished with the icy passage of the Turini. Conditions remain difficult.

10h

With the sun still shining, conditions should be slightly better in the Col de Turini and the times should fall.

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