Rally Monte Carlo: Dream start for Ogier with Ford
For two days, Thierry Neuville dominated the action at the 85th Rally Monte Carlo in the new Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC. After a small mistake with major consequences, world champion Sébastien Ogier moved into the lead at the first start with Ford. Of the three Swiss drivers, only Olivier Burri finished a good 14th. After several mostly [...]
After several mostly dry years, the 85th Monte Carlo Rally once again proved to be a real winter test with its pitfalls. Dry and wet asphalt alternated with snow and ice, so that the participants had their hands full trying to stay on the right track. Hayden Paddon in one of the three works Hyundai cars was unable to do so on the first night special stage (SS) on Thursday evening. The New Zealander was carried too far out of a left-hand bend at an icy spot, crashed into the rocky kerb and tipped the car onto its side. Unfortunately, a spectator standing there suffered fatal injuries and the SS1 was aborted.
Paddon's team-mate Thierry Neuville dictated the pace from the start in his new Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC. The German-speaking Belgian extended his lead to exactly one minute after nine special stages on Saturday morning, before Sébastien Ogier in the Ford Fiesta WRC closed the gap again. The 13th and final SS on Saturday then proved to be Neuville's undoing. He damaged the right rear suspension of his Hyundai in an innocuous spot. After a makeshift repair, he crossed the finish line more than half an hour behind and dropped back to 15th position as a result.
Thierry Neuville: "I had a good rhythm and then drifted out about 20 centimeters too far at an inconspicuous spot. A small mistake with big consequences. But the Monte Carlo Rally is known for such incidents. At least we know that we are already very competitive with the new car, and that gives us confidence for the next rallies."
Defending champion Sébastien Ogier moved to the top of the overall standings as a result. The Frenchman then took no more risks on the final stage on Sunday. After his team-mate Ott Tänak dropped back to third place due to serious misfiring in his Ford Fiesta, Ogier's lead over second-placed Jari-Matti Latvala in the Toyota Yaris WRC was almost two and a half minutes. At the finish, after around 380 SS kilometers and exactly four hours of racing, the world champion was 2'15 minutes ahead. Thierry Neuville held his own at the end with a superior best time on the Power Stage, which will earn the winner five WRC points from 2017.
Toyota celebrated its second place after 17 years away from the World Rally Championship just as exuberantly as Ford celebrated its first WRC victory since the Rally Wales in the fall of 2012. For Sébastien Ogier, it is his fifth Monte triumph since 2009 and, after three consecutive victories with VW, his first with the Ford team of Briton Malcom Wilson, which he only joined at the beginning of December.
Cédric Althaus sidelined, good performance from Olivier Burri
Cédric Althaus and co-driver Jessica Bayard also fell victim to the ominous SS13 on Saturday afternoon. Althaus got stuck on the same bridge ledge as Thierry Neuville and then had to retire with a damaged suspension on his Renault Clio IV. Althaus had won this entry to win the 2016 Clio R3T Alps Trophy and was competing against the champions from France, Italy and the Iberian Peninsula in one of the four cars entered by Renault Sport in the European finale of this series.
Due to two punctures and minor incidents, the Swiss Clio representative dropped back to fourth place in the internal standings on the second day, although he had shone with the best time in SS7. However, the prospects of a podium were still intact, as Althaus was back in third place in class and fourth in the WRC3 group at the time of the retirement. The overall winners of this year's Clio Trophy can also look forward to a start at the 2018 Monte Carlo Rally, offered by Renault Switzerland and other sponsors.
While Laurent Vukasovich retired with his Ford Fiesta R5, his brand colleague Olivier Burri held his own in a good midfield position from the first stage to the finish. The veteran from Belprahon was worlds behind the best times in class set by professionals such as ex-VW works driver Andreas Mikkelsen and Jan Kopecky in their works Skodas. However, his regular times were always enough to place him in the top 10 of the 27 R5 vehicles that started, which was rewarded with a respectable 14th place at the end. As the best privateer driver, the 53-year-old from Bernjurassi thus left the works drivers Neuville and Hänninen (Toyota), who had faltered in the meantime, behind him in the final standings.
