“I overheated my tires a bit at the start of the stage, but after that it was better,” admitted the young Finn (22) and reigning world champion, after his third stage win of the rally. “There were big risks of puncture in this stage, so I was careful. I have been playing it safe since this morning”, Ogier explained a few minutes later.

The result is yet another stage treble for Toyota Gazoo Racing, ahead of the very consistent and resilient Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport), still 3rd overall ahead of Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford). The Estonian, crowned in 2019, is faced with power steering issues since SS10 in his Ford Puma, just like his teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet on Friday.

After the sandwich break at Puget-Théniers, the same loop of three specials is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, then back to Monaco to prepare for the last four stages, scheduled for Sunday morning over Nice.

This was already his 7th stage win out of 10 in this 91st edition, in front of a host of spectators, in full sun, cooled down by the icy wind. Ogier managed it with a very small margin, four tenths of a second quicker than Elfyn Evans and 1.1 second better than Kalle Rovanperä, who had just clocked the best time in SS9.

This was also another 1-2-3 for Toyota Gazoo Racing in this rally, ahead of Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport).

Again 4th in raw performance, the Belgian driver is more than ever in search of another podium in the WRC, for lack of anything better. He remains 3rd overall and does everything he can to contain Evans, who was delayed Friday morning by a puncture. The Welshman is only 19.1 seconds behind and he has eight stages left to complete a possible Toyota treble in the Principality.

At M-Sport Ford, the worries continue. Just like Pierre-Louis Loubet on Friday, Ott Tänak had a major power steering failure at km 3 in this SS10. He will have to fight all day in order to fix the issue tonight in Monaco, and then try to save a few points on Sunday.

Toyota Gazoo Racing therefore continued its raid on this “Monte”, with a 9th stage win out of 9 contested since Thursday night, and another 1-2-3 on the scoreboard: Rovanperä ahead of Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans. This infernal trio drove faster than Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport), 4th at 2.7 seconds. It may be a happy omen for the Frenchman, aiming this year for a record 9th success in the Principality.

The M-Sport Ford drivers are not in the game, even if Ott Tänak saves appearances and remains in the Top 5. The 2019 World Champion is still a minute behind Ogier in the general standings (57.5 seconds exactly) while the competitors have just passed, in the famous Colle Saint-Michel, the mid-rally point (9 stages out of 18).

This SS9 claimed a victim in the French ranks: Pierre-Louis Loubet, the other M-Sport Ford driver, had left well rested after a whole Friday afternoon driving without power steering. His Puma slipped in the last left corner, just before the timing cell, and its right rear axle got damaged : “We need to get back in shape and try to aim for a few points during the Power Stage on Sunday”, the young Corsican driver reacted on Twitter.

“I didn’t push too hard, I just tried to do a clean stage. My car seemed more efficient than this morning”, said Rovanperä, the youngest World Champion in the history of WRC, at the end of SS8, where Sébastien Loeb had won in 2022 ahead of Ogier, just one year ago. He then set off for Monaco with a 36-second debit over his French team-mate, and ten more stages to negotiate on Saturday and Sunday morning.

“I’m very happy, obviously the risk of punctures was higher in this stage, so I took it easy. I am just happy to be able to bring the car back to the service park,” Ogier said a few minutes later. He had punctured a tire in this stage last year, in the heat of a final battle with Loeb, and offered an historic win to his greatest rival.

Saturday morning, when all drivers leave Monaco for the six stages of Day 3, Ogier will also be 37.9 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), 3rd, 54.2 seconds ahead of Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford), 4th, and 1:02.3 minute ahead of Elfyn Evans (Toyota), who suffered a very costly puncture in the morning. This makes it three Toyota drivers in the Top 5, with over 175 timed kilometers to race. Place your bets!

“Honestly, I took a lot of risks to compensate,” Ogier said during the mid-day pause in Puget-Théniers. Crews were only allowed to change tires, but no help by mechanics was allowed. With a 30-second lead, Ogier could plan to manage a bit, as he had to wait for the evening service to have his electric power unit fixed.

This SS6 had another benefit for Toyota Gazoo Racing: it allowed Kalle Rovanperä, the young reigning World Champion, to take 2nd place away from Thierry Neuville, the Belgian leader of Hyundai Motorsport. “It’s starting to get better,” said Rovanperä at the break. After starting this opening round of WRC 2023 in cautious mode, he is now starting to find his rhythm. In SS6, he finished two seconds behind Evans and half a second only behind Ogier.

After SS6, there is only a four-tenths difference between Rovanperä (2nd) and Neuville (3rd), both 36 seconds behind Ogier. Slightly further back, Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford), 4th at 44 seconds, and Elfyn Evans (Toyota), 5th at 54 seconds, are still battling for honours. In WRC2, Russian Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia) continues to resist against two Frenchmen driving Citroën C3s, Yohan Rossel and Stéphane Lefebvre.

Neuville took advantage of his 3rd place in SS5 (Briançonnet-Entrevaux, 14.55km) and of a puncture for Elfyn Evans (Toyota) to jump in 2nd  place, 32.7 seconds behind an untouchable, implacable Ogier .

Only the reigning World Champion, Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), managed to worry Ogier in this stage, by increasing his pace and not without risk: a big hit at the right rear of his Yaris resulted in a torn-out bumper, and maybe deprived him of a first stage win in this 2023 edition of the “Monte”.

“My tire choice was not perfect. On the first big braking point, I had less grip than expected and I came out of the corner too wide,” the 22-year-old Finn calmly summarized. Thanks to Evans’s puncture and Ott Tänak’s lack of pace, Rovanperä is now 3rd overall, 34.5 seconds behind Ogier but only two seconds behind Neuville.

As for Pierre-Louis Loubet, in the other works Puma, he crossed a meadow, hitting a sign post and damaging his car, because of a probable power steering issue, losing a minute and a half in total. He is further down in the standings, also because the leaders of the WRC2 category are firing up on all cylinders. To be continued.

On the occasion of the 91st Rallye Monte-Carlo, pupils from Monaco met the World Rally Championship drivers on Thursday 19 January. Aged between 9 and 14, the children from La Condamine, St-Charles, FANB and Charles III schools were able to share a special moment with these champions. The programme included questions and answers, autographs and selfies with the drivers of the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, M-Sport Ford WRT, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, TOKSPORT WRT – Skoda and Citroën Racing teams.

All kinds of topics were discussed, like “What is your favourite rally?”/”Have you had a big accident?”/”How long does a career in rallying last?” or “Are you better than your teammate?”/”Do you have special shoes to drive?”/”Do you play video games?” or “How did you become friends?

The drivers enjoyed answering these questions in a good mood and with goodwill. A unique memory just hours before the start of the Rallye Monte-Carlo!

Seb Ogier ahead of Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä: Toyota Gazoo Racing started Day 2 of the 91st  Rally Monte-Carlo on a high, by setting the three best times of a completely dry SS3 over 18.33km between Roure, Roubion and Beuil. The eight-time World Champion added 3.2 seconds to the tally of the Welshman and 6.1 to his credit on the young Finn, and reigning world champion. A good way to show who remains the WRC boss … when he comes to play around, between two family obligations across the Rhine.

This morning, Ogier had left the port of Monaco with three Pirelli Soft tires and two Super Soft, a choice linked to the quota of tires available for the entire rally: “The truth is that we don’t have so many Soft tires for the whole rally (20 Soft and 24 Super Soft to compete in 18 special stages), so we can’t take too many on board. In the end, we don’t need to have one more”, Ogier explained after his third win in as many stages since Thursday evening in Col de Turini.

Behind the trio of Toyota drivers, the gaps continued to widen, with Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport) in one of his favorite roles: best of the others, 4th at 7.8 seconds of Ogier, ahead of both M-Sport Ford drivers, Ott Tänak, the 2019 World Champion, 5th at eight seconds, and Pierre-Louis Loubet, very focused for his debut in the “Monte” in a hybrid WRC, only two tenths behind his team leader. Very promising.

With regards to the particularly tough WRC2 field, battle resumed on Friday morning between Russia’s Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia), racing under a neutral flag, and two Frenchmen, Yohan Rossel and Stéphane Lefebvre, embarked in a couple of Citroën C3 Rally2. After SS3, Gryazin is 17.6 seconds ahead of Rossel and holds a 21.6 advantage over Lefebvre.