Ogier remains the strongest in Monte-Carlo

Sébastien Ogier (Ford) achieved its 39th victory at the Rally Monte-Carlo, its 5th in this event and its 4th in a row as part of the WRC, reaching the finish despite conditions that became very snowy in the Power Stage. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy season. We know we have to work hard, but at least we start the season with a lot of points and we can only be satisfied.”, declared the winner.

M-Sport could even dream of a double while Malcolm Wilson's team has been chasing victory for several years, but Ott Tänak had to give up his 2nd place to Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) due to engine problems that appeared on the first special of the day. The Estonian, who ran on 3 cylinders, was undoubtedly able to maintain his 3rd position thanks to the cancellation of the penultimate following the poor positioning of several spectators and at the cost of a great attack in the Power Stage.

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) finished in 4th place, 38s behind Ott Tänak. The Spaniard nevertheless managed to resume Craig Breen who lost by 12 seconds in his valiant DS 3 WRC. Elfyn Evans (Ford) completes the leading group with 6th place.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) saved his weekend by winning the 5 bonus points of the Power Stage after taking advantage of favorable conditions, the Belgian having started before the arrival of the snow. The i20 WRC driver won ahead of Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën), Juho Hänninen (Skoda), Elfyn Evans and Dani Sordo who took the last unit for a 6 tenths lead over Craig Breen.

Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) dominated WRC 2 and finished 7th in the general classification with more than 3 minutes ahead of his teammate Jan Kopecky. Bryan Bouffier (Ford) completes the category podium by taking 10th place in the standings behind Stéphane Lefebvre, 7 seconds ahead of Pontus Tidemand (Skoda). Éric Camilli (Ford) and Quentin Gilbert (Ford) complete the top five in the 2nd category. Romain Dumas wins in RGT on his Porsche 997 GT3 RS with almost 23 minutes ahead of the Fiat 124 Abarth of Gabriele Noberasco.

Discover the analysis of the Monte-Carlo Rally carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2098 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.