Day 2 of the 7th E-Rallye Monte-Carlo ended with a win for Spaniards Eneko Conde and Lukas Sergnese in RS6, giving the Bridgestone ecoRally Cup 2022 winners the provisional overall lead in their Kia E-Niro. However, the best deal of the day came from Didier Malga and Anne-Valérie Bonnel (Tesla Model 3), the winners of the 2017 edition, which suggests that the two crews will have a good fight on their hands on Friday and Saturday. The Frenchmen in a Tesla, experts of the Monegasque event and very steady at the front since Wednesday, are determined to make up the few dozen points (40 on Thursday evening) which separate them from the new leaders, after a very lively Thursday.

As the Clerck of the Course has decided to cancel RS7 and RS8 regularity stages on Friday morning due to a red alert for rain and flooding, there are only seven regularity stages left to run until Saturday night and the competitors are therefore almost halfway through the race, having contested six timed portions since Wednesday. And as far as the brands are concerned, the victories are very evenly distributed: two for VW on Wednesday, two for Kia on Thursday, one for Tesla and one for Nissan. In other words, four of the 19 manufacturers taking part in this 2023 event have already won at least one regularity stage.

Behind Conde and Malga (photo), who are perfectly capable of fighting it out to the finish, there are several other podium contenders to keep an eye on, who would all be ready to jump on any opportunity offered by the favourites. Starting with Jérôme Aymard and Christophe Marques, in a Nissan Ariya, who briefly led the rally on Thursday after their win in RS5. But also Nadia Delvaux and Jean-Marc Piret (Peugeot E-208), 4th on Thursday evening ahead of the leaders of the Bridgestone ecoRally Cup 2023, the Czechs Michal Zdarsky and Jakub Nabelek (Hyundai Kona). It promises to be a great battle until Saturday evening, not forgetting the three Belgian VW Club cars in the Top 9 at the halfway stage. Suspense guaranteed.