Sebastien Ogier overcame a poor tyre choice on Day 1 to fight back and win the Rallye Monte Carlo in style, getting his world championship defence off to a near perfect start.
To rack up his first Monte win Ogier had to reel in an impressive Bryan Bouffier in his first outing at the wheel of a privately entered Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Bouffier’s name may be familiar to you, he was one of the test drivers who helped develop the Hyundai i20 WRC, so his second place result will be extra sweet after missing out on official driving duties with the Korean team this year.
Conditions during the rally were extreme and presented the drivers with all kinds of hazards, from ice, “shiny” wet patches on slippery tarmac, heavy rain and a snow storm just to top things off.
Kris Meeke took a big step in repaying Citroën’s faith and was delighted to overcome those difficulties unscathed on his way to satisfying third place. He leaves Monte Carlo with increased confidence, acknowledging he has no issue with raw pace, but has in the past made too many silly errors.
Robert Kubica may need to take a few notes from Meeke. The former F1 star was sure fast enough during the rally and was easily mixing it with the established WRC front runners. Yet, he still found his way off course and crashed into a bridge in a manner perhaps only Robert could. Thankfully the impact was at relatively low speed and he was in no real danger of any injury.
Jari-Matti Latvala finds himself in Ogier’s shadow once again, although he lost a bit of time on Day 2 with an annoying puncture. Latvala did register a small win over his teammate when he beat him to first place in the Power Stage by 0.2 seconds. Judging by the look on Ogier’s face immediately afterwards the world of motorsport has another Seb who doesn’t like losing one little bit!
Of course, Hyundai’s return to the WRC spotlight didn’t quite go to plan and they’ll be hoping for more in Sweden next month.
After the break there’s Volkswagen’s official word along with pictures and videos from the leading WRC teams.