Sixth victory for Sebastien Ogier at Rallye Monte-Carlo

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team’s Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia are the winners of the 2018 Rallye Monte-Carlo. It’s the sixth victory for a French pair in the world’s oldest rally event. It’s also their 41st WRC victory in a career.

The 86th edition of Monte-Carlo Rally was the opening round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship. Two Toyota crews completed a podium. Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja finished second in the #8 Toyota Yaris WRC, ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in the #7 Toyota.

2018 Rallye Monte-Carlo, Ott Tanak (Toyota)

Ott Tanak reached a podium in his first rally with Toyota

Sebastien Ogier (#1 Ford Fiesta WRC) was in control of the rally from the opening stage on Thursday evening to Sunday’s Power Stage. At the end, he has an advantage of 58.3 seconds over Tanak.

As expected, Rallye Monte-Carlo offered unpredictable weather and road conditions which resulted in lots of drama. The first victim on the very first stage was Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) who stuck in a snow ditch and lost more than four minutes. In the rest of the rally, he was trying to control a damage, recording few fastest stages and finishing in the fifth place at the end.

2018 Rallye Monte-Carlo, Thierry Neuville

After a catastrophic mistake on the opening stage, Neuville finished fifth at the end of the rally

The other two Hyundai drivers were fast but unfortunate. Andreas Mikkelsen retired from the third place on Friday due to alternator failure. Dani Sordo crashed out from the third place at the first special stage on Saturday morning. As a consolation, both Neuville and Mikkelsen took points at the Power Stage. The winner of the Power Stage was Kris Meeke.

Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) was a one step from the fourth place but he made a mistake on the last stage, losing more than half a minute and dropping to seventh. Kris Meeke (Citroen) finished fourth, ahead of Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans (M-Sport Ford). Bryan Bouffier (M-Sport Ford) ended a rally in the 8th place, ahead of Craig Breen (Citroen). Jan Kopecky (Škoda Motorsport) rounded the Top 10 in the Škoda Fabia R5 and recorded a victory in the WRC2 category on his 36th birthday.