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It was something he really wanted to do, and he did it, at last: on Friday afternoon, home-grown Sébastien Ogier won ‘his’ special stage from Saint-Léger les Mélèzes to La Bâtie-Neuve (SS8, 16.68 km) in front of his family and friends. And as luck would have it, the eight-time world champion regained the overall lead, 6.8 seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans, his Toyota team-mate.
“I knew that all my family and friends were there, and I’d never won this stage. So I said to myself that I had to do it one day and I did my best”, a relieved and happy Ogier said after crossing the finish line of the stage closest to his village, where he had just changed his tyres. It was the same ritual as in the morning, except that SS5 had been cancelled at the last minute, and that he had not been able to go for that rather special best stage time.
It was, as expected, a very tricky stage, in which all the top drivers started with four super-soft tyres and zero stud, while the descent offered a long, very tricky section, totally snow-covered and icy, between the trees. They were all very careful, using a variety of different lines, and the only one to get caught out was Evans, who did a half spin without hitting anything and lost a handful of seconds I the process.
After Ogier, neither Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai), who came second on the special, 3.9 seconds behind Ogier, nor Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) managed to do better than the Frenchman, and so he achieved his sentimental, symbolic and personal goal: a victory ‘at home’, really, close to the village of Forest Saint Julien, in the Champsaur région, where he often played boule lyonnaise, when he was younger, while taking his ski instructor’s certificate.
It was also his third fastest stage time of the 93rd Monte Carlo Rally, a better score than any of his rivals, for the moment. After SS8, and with just one stage to go in this rather hectic day, two French drivers, Ogier and Fourmaux (in the best Hyundai), are still in the Top 3, sandwiching Evans (2nd).
In WRC2, the soap opera continues: Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3) has clawed back another 3.6 seconds from Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia RS) and is now just nine seconds behind the category leader… who chose not to score any points in this event.
