Ten out of ten for Sébastien Ogier, winner of his 10th Monte-Carlo Rally!

Incredible Sébastien Ogier: the Gapençais took his tenth victory on the Rallye Monte-Carlo - his ninth in WRC - with fabulous control on his home turf. Third behind Elfyn Evans, Adrien Fourmaux took his first podium with Hyundai, while Yohan Rossel won in WRC2.

Published 26/01/2025 à 13:18

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Ten out of ten for Sébastien Ogier, winner of his 10th Monte-Carlo Rally!

And ten for Sébastien Ogier ! The Gapençais won the Rally Monte-Carlo for the tenth time in his career, his ninth victory in the World Rally Championship! An exceptional performance that makes him enter the history books even further with a new record for victories in Monte-Carlo. He also equals the record for the number of victories in a single event in WRC : until then, only Sébastien Loeb had achieved such a feat by winning the Rally of Germany and the Rally of Catalonia nine times!

WINNERS WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo 2025 🥇
Congratulations @SebOgier / @vinzzlandais 👏@TGR_WRC @Hankook_Sport #WRC | #RallyMonteCarlo ???????? pic.twitter.com/OTWIyp2QEV

— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) January 26, 2025

On home soil, the Gapençais was impressive in his speed and control. After taking the lead in the rally on Friday afternoon, the driver Toyota managed his lead, widening the gap at opportune moments and losing as little time as possible on the stages where he was struggling more with his tyres, particularly on Sunday morning when he opted to mainly take studded tyres on a mainly dry road. With five fastest times, Sébastien Ogier dominated this Rallye Monte-Carlo and took the 62nd victory of his WRC career, at the age of 41.
"I don't know where to start, what weekend. I think my lucky star was with me this weekend, said the winner of the day at the finish line. It was my uncle, who we lost a year ago. I'm sure he gave me everything, this victory is for him. I had a lot of hot moments this weekend… like I said, my lucky star was there. I don't know what that means, but for me it's the world. I don't know if it's my last [Monte-Carlo] now. It would be a good time to stop!
And yet, the record holder for victories in the Rallye Monte-Carlo had to work hard to secure this 10th victory, which was decided right down to the last special stage organised on the legendary Col du Turini. Before the start of the Power Stage, Sébastien Ogier was only 18 seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans and 22 seconds ahead of a Adrien fourmaux on fire. In the early morning, the Northerner had adopted a risky tire strategy by taking four super-soft tires with him, despite wet, slippery but drying conditions. Unfortunately, after making up half of his deficit in SS17, the new driver Hyundai failed to win against Sébastien Ogier, frustrated by stubborn ice on the Turini climb. Adrien Fourmaux still took a formidable 3rd place behind Elfyn Evans for his first with the Korean team, with two special stage victories this weekend.
Kalle Rovanperä, Ott Tänak et Thierry Neuville, three of the favourites for the title this season, finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively in this Rallye Monte-Carlo. Each had bad times in this event, notably the reigning champion, victim of two track exits and a puncture on Friday, then a mechanical problem on Saturday. At the finish, it was the Finn who came out the best of the three, stealing 4th place from Ott Tänak in the Power Stage thanks to a better choice of tyres. Note the retirements of Grégoire Munster, Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta this Sunday.
In the standings. Drivers, Sébastien Ogier is therefore the first leader of the championship with 33 points out of 35 possible, ahead of Elfyn Evans (26 points) and Adrien Fourmaux (20 points). Thierry Neuville scored 9 points at the end of this laborious event for the Belgian. In the Constructors, Toyota scored 60 points, Hyundai 36 points and M-Sport 11 points in this first round.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel made it three by winning the Rallye Monte-Carlo for the third time in a row! The Citroën driver had long been battling with Nikolay Gryazin for victory in the Rally2 category but the Russian, who was not eligible for WRC2 points this weekend like Gus Greensmith and Oliver Solberg, was unable to bring down the Frenchman. The Cannes driver has made an ideal start to his WRC2 season with the 25 points for victory.
An all-French podium in WRC100 since Éric Camilli (Hyundai) took advantage of the non-registration of Nikolay Gryazin and Gus Greensmith to take 2nd place, while the French champion Léo Rossel (Citroën) took the last step of the podium for his first participation in the world championship! This is the first time in history that two brothers have shared a podium in a WRC event.