BRITAIN\u2019S KRIS MEEKE WILL GO INTO THE SECOND DAY OF RALLYE MONTE-CARLO WITH A SLENDER LEAD AFTER EMERGING FROM THURSDAY NIGHT\u2019S OPENING BRACE OF STAGES WITH A 6.9S ADVANTAGE.<\/p>\n
The Abu Dhabi Total Team driver was beaten to the fastest time on the opening test by reigning world champion and local hero S\u00e9bastien Ogier.<\/p>\n
But Meeke was in determined mood and hit back on SS2. He eclipsed his VW-driving rival by a staggering 11s through the 20.38km test and that was enough to give him his first stage win of the season and a welcome overnight lead. \u201cEverything feels good,\u201d Meeke beamed.<\/p>\n
Ogier meanwhile, rued his cautious approach on the last five kilometres of SS2 where the road was covered in snow and ice. But he wasn\u2019t about to panic. \u201cI\u2019m happy to be here. This is just the beginning of the rally,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n
VW team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen kept out of trouble and was happy to fill third place at the end of the second stage, while Thierry Neuville \u2013 driving Hyundai\u2019s new-for-2016 i20 WRC \u2013 was fourth, albeit 31.4s off Meeke\u2019s benchmark pace.<\/p>\n
Jari-Matti Latvala had held fourth after the opening stage but he hit trouble \u2013literally \u2013 on SS2 and dropped to seventh at the end of the leg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit something on the first proper icy section,\u201d he explained. “The car started to slide so I hit full throttle. I think we tagged a bridge or something and I was worried we might have damaged the rear suspension. We took it easy after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fifth place belonged to Hayden Paddon at the end of the leg. The fast-improving Kiwi was using the event to further develop his driving skills aboard last year\u2019s Hyundai i20 WRC and he held a narrow 0.4s advantage over Mads \u00d8stberg after SS2.<\/p>\n
The Norwegian was reacquainting himself with the M-Sport World Rally Team\u2019s Fiesta, but the road conditions were hardly making it easy. \u201cWhen you do a stage like this it\u2019s impossible to judge the speed,\u201d he said after SS2. \u201cYou find grip in some places and then it\u2019s gone in others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRITAIN\u2019S KRIS MEEKE WILL GO INTO THE SECOND DAY OF RALLYE MONTE-CARLO WITH A SLENDER LEAD AFTER EMERGING FROM THURSDAY NIGHT\u2019S OPENING BRACE OF STAGES WITH A 6.9S ADVANTAGE. The Abu Dhabi Total Team driver was beaten to the fastest time on the opening test by reigning world champion and local hero S\u00e9bastien Ogier. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10578617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,9,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10581186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-automobile-club-de-monaco-en","category-edition","category-rallye-monte-carlo"],"acf":{"contenu_des_pages":null},"yoast_head":"\n