Day one of Rallye Monte-Carlo has passed. Eight-time Monte-Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier leads after the day.
SS1, Col De Turni
Stage one would see Sebastien Ogier take the stage win. Beating Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans by 1.3 seconds. Thierry Neuville would place third on the stage, 4.7 seconds behind Evans. Takamoto Katsuta would place fourth, 0.9 seconds behind Neuville. Kalle Rovanperä would round off the top five, finishing the stage 0.5 seconds behind Katsuta.
SS2, Col De Castillon
Stage two would once again be won by Sebastian Ogier. Ogier would beat Elfyn Evans by 4.7 seconds to win the stage. Ott Tänak would place third on the stage, 2.1 seconds behind Evans. Thierry Neuville would place fourth on the stage, 2.7 seconds behind his former Hyundai teammate Ott Tänak. Kalle Rovanperä would once again round out the top five, finishing 0.2 seconds behind Neuville.
Neuville Goes Off
Stage two would see the first off of the rally and season. As Thierry Neuville would go off on the stage. Neuville would still manage to place fourth on the stage but likely would’ve placed higher if it weren’t for the off.
Finding Rhythm
Ott Tänak has seemed to be slowly finding his pace in his new M-Sport Ford Puma Hybrid. Tänak placed sixth on SS1, 1.2 seconds behind Rovanperä. Tänak would finish three spots higher on SS2, finishing the stage third, 2.1 seconds behind Evans. It was expected Tänak would take some time to get up to pace to start the rally, but he may have found it just two stages in. Tänak would finish the day in the top three, 9.4 seconds behind Elfyn Evans, and 0.1 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville.
What To Expect From Day Two
Day two of Rallye Monte-Carlo will see drivers tackle six stages spanning 105 kilometres. Sebastian Ogier will likely look to expand on his six-second lead over Elfyn Evans. Evans will look to close that gap and try to stop Ogier from taking home his ninth Monte-Carlo win. Ott Tänak will battle for third with former Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville. Kalle Rovanperä will look to close the 1.6-second gap between him and Neuville.
My name is Joe Moore. I am a writer for Belly Up Hockey, Belly Up Racing, and Belly Up Sports. You can find me on Twitter.
