Toyota’s French star Sebastien Ogier made history in the Monte Carlo World Rally that ended on Sunday. Ogier drove Monte to victory for the ninth time in his career. No other driver in the history of the Monte Carlo Rally has been able to do this. Sebastien Loeb drove in eight for Monte’s win.
Ogier’s teammate Kalle Rovanperä finished second and thus achieved his first podium finish in Monte Carlo. Rovanperä was 18.8 seconds behind Ogier. Hyundai’s Belgian driver Thierry Neuville took third place, 44.6 seconds off the lead.
The Rovanperä rally ended sweetly with the victory of the Power Stage, Ford Ott Tänak bent by just 0.6 seconds. Ogier was fifth fastest on the Power Stage.
– It went pretty well, even though there were problems with the brakes. Maybe not a perfect shot. I’m happy with this one instead of the other one, it was much more than I expected here. A great weekend, Rovanperä said.
“Good point pot”
The top positions did not change anymore in the final day’s special tests. Ogier drove convincingly and kept Rovanperä behind him.
Rovanperä started in Monte Carlo even with mixed feelings of fear, because the competition is not one of his favorites. Second place was a great result.
– A good point pot, when I still got full points from the Power Stage, Rovanperä summed up for Urheilu.
Rovanperä’s race started out tight, but on Saturday and Sunday the pace improved.
– We were left at the beginning of the rally when we opened and cleared the road. After that, of course, we tried to come as much as we could, but drive sensibly, Rovanperä said.
Lapland was disappointed with its performance
Changed to the Hyundai garage for this season Esapekka Lappi placed eighth. Lapland was almost four minutes behind the leader.
Saturday’s flat tire dropped Lapp on the results list, but he had enough other problems.
– The asphalt work cannot be done by forcing. The car has to work to be able to push. If you force it, the tires will overheat and the time will not improve, instead there will be mistakes, Lappi described his problems.
Lappi was also disappointed in his own actions.
– We were able to improve our times. I expected more from this weekend. I don’t know anything from the sky, but I would have liked to get to a better pace, Lappi thought.
Rovanperä will become the clear number one favorite when the next World Cup rally is held in February in Sweden.
– We were at a really good pace here. The car played well. Let’s see how we can make the car travel on snow, Rovanperä predicts.
FINAL RESULTS
1. Sebastien Ogier, Toyota 3.12.02,0
2. Kalle Rovanperä, Toyota +18.8
3. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai +44.6
4. Elfyn Evans, Toyota +1.12,4
5. Ott Tänak, Ford +2.34,9
6. Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota +3.32,6
7. Dani Sordo, Hyundai +3.47.5
8. Esapekka Lappi, Hyundai +3.51,3
9. Nikolai Grjazin, Skoda (WRC2) +10.03,4
10. Yohan Rossel, Citroen (WRC2) +10.07,9
DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SITUATION (1/13)
1. Sebastien Ogier, Toyota 26
2. Kalle Rovanperä, Toyota 23
3. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai 17
4. Elfyn Evans, Toyota 15
5. Ott Tänak, Ford 14
6. Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota 8
7. Dani Sordo, Hyundai 6
8. Esapekka Lappi, Hyundai 4
STALLS
1. Toyota 51
2. Hyundai 27
3. M-Sport Ford 16