We had to wait until the 3rd and final special stage of Day 1 of this 7th E-Rallye Monte-Carlo for a Tesla to come to the fore. Gautier Philippon and Enric Martin, entered by the Tesla Owner Club France, proved to be the best on the SR3 between La Cabanette and Col de Castillon (24.677km), the longest stage on the menu for this inaugural afternoon.

But as in the previous two stages, the Belgians were again at the front, aiming for another win “made in Brussels” and a spectacular hat-trick: Eric Cunin and Alexandre Peeters (VW ID3), had already won SR1. They came close to repeating that feat but had to settle for 2nd, maintaining a minimal 10-point gap over a French duo, Karel Colibert and Nathalie Zbinden in a Lexus RZ entered by Monaco’s Urban Planning Department. Daghe Munegu!

Download the classification of the SR 3