Sébastien Ogier ended Day 2 of the 93rd Monte-Carlo Rally just as he began the opening night on Thursday, setting two fastest times in quick succession. First in SS8, on his home turf, and then just around the corner in SS9, between La Bréole and Selonnet (18.31km). Two ‘masterclasses’ in a row, in tricky conditions and with all his rivals reduced to the role of extras. But there’s still a long way to go…

‘It was a good end to the day for us, but I fought hard for it. Up until the last two stages, I was a bit on the defensive, but then I felt better. I changed my driving mode’, smiled Ogier, delighted with this fine day of rallying and with his 12.6 second lead over Elfyn Evans, his Toyota team-mate. This should give him plenty to look forward to on Saturday, with two loops of three stages in the Drôme region.

As has often been the case since the start of this rally, Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) was very good, the only driver to rival the eight-time world champion. The driver from the north of France finished 2nd on the stage again, 2.8 seconds behind Ogier, and he will start Saturday’s rally with a clear objective: to catch Evans on a regular basis by continuing to attack as hard as possible… while keeping a small margin for error.

‘It was another clean stage, even if I lost a bit of time when I made a small mistake. It was a really good afternoon for us,’ said Fourmaux before setting off again for the service park in Gap. He is only 14.2 behind Ogier this evening, and especially 1.6 behind Evans, who also put in a great day’s driving.

9 more stages to go…

At the halfway point of the rally, after 9 stages, 8 of which were hotly contested (and one cancelled, SS5 on Friday morning), the balance sheet is in Toyota’s favour, with three Gazoo Racing drivers in the top 4 (Ogier, Evans, Rovanperä), but Fourmaux seems determined and, above all, capable of disrupting the Japanese party. After five learning seasons with M-Sport Ford, the Frenchman seems to have turned a corner by joining Hyundai, and he has negotiated the early pitfalls of this rally much better than his two world champion team-mates.

Thierry Neuville had already been trapped in SS6 at the end of the morning, and this time he was the victim of a puncture of the front-left tyre, on the same stage, which ruined SS9 for him. ‘I don’t know if I should have stopped to change my tyre’, said the Belgian at the end of the stage, having lost a further two minutes in the adventure. He then returned to Gap, with a new wheel, in 9th place overall, 4 minutes behind Ogier. Nothing to be proud of for the new world champion, who has often struggled in this rally (2 wins in 15 appearances).

In WRC2, the final stage of the day brought about a change in the leaders. Yohan Rossel now leads the way in his PH Sport Citroën C3, ahead of Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia RS). There are still 9 stages to go until midday on Sunday. Everything is still possible, the best and the worst…

SS9 results