Citroën: 100th victory on company anniversary 🎥
RALLY MONTE CARLO The first WRC round of 2019 was dominated by the magnificent duel between Sébastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville. The world champion gave Citroën Racing its 100th WRC victory in time for the brand's 100th anniversary. At the end of four stages, the very last special stage brought the closest decision in the history of the 87th running of the Monte Carlo Rally. This took [...]
At the end of four stages, the very last special stage brought the closest decision in the history of the 87th running of the Rally Monte Carlo. Sébastien Ogier in the Citroën C3 WRC took the stage with a lead of just four tenths of a second over Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC.
On this final SS16, the world champion was even slightly behind at the intermediate time, having complained about problems with the gas pedal up to that point on Sunday. But in the end, Ogier(Ingrassia won by 2.2 seconds ahead of the Belgian - and this after 324 SS kilometers over dry, wet, icy or snowy asphalt.
In hindsight, a braking error on SS7 cost Neuville a possible first Monte victory. As a result, he lost 14 seconds on Ogier and the lead in the interim classification.
The hundred is full
A perfect debut for the defending champion at Citroën Racing, where he returned in 2018. For him, it is not only the sixth consecutive triumph in the classic rally and the seventh overall. Ogier is also the first driver since Walter Röhrl to achieve this with four different brands.
However, in 2009, when he won in a Peugeot 207 S2000, the Monte did not count towards the WRC, but only towards the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Cup). The Frenchman then went on to win with Volkswagen, Ford and now Citroën, where he began his WRC career in 2010.
Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia also gave their new employer its 100th victory in the World Rally Championship, in the year of the French brand's 100th anniversary. The first success for Citroën was achieved by the late Philippe Bulgaski in 1999 in an Xsara kit car.
Exciting battle for third place
The fastest man of all was Ott Tänak. The Estonian had to change a wheel on his Toyota Yaris WRC on the same stage on Friday and lost more than two minutes on the leader as a result. With best times on all four stages on Saturday and two more on Sunday, he worked his way back to third place on the podium.
With his impressive race to catch up, Tänak knocked Sébastien Loeb off the final podium place by 13 seconds. The record world champion could be satisfied with fourth place in his first appearance with Hyundai.
Due to his contract obligation with Peugeot and the start of the Dakar Rally in the first half of the month, Loeb was unable to prepare sufficiently for this premiere (only one test day with Hyundai).
