Monte Carlo Rally 2019
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How’s this for fever? Ogier’s Autosport-spec Ford Fiesta WRC on sale in Gap. Current price is €40, if we can get him down to €30 this motor could be taking pride of place on a desk in Autosport Towers on Monday…
On the recommendation of overnight rally leader Sebastien Ogier, last night’s supper comprised Tourton. Looking like oversized ravioli – and lightly friend pastry not pasta – these things can be filled with anything, sweet or savoury. Ogier’s favoured local tucker went down a treat. - DAVID EVANS
This really is Ogier country, with today's liaison section pasing through his hometown Forest-Saint-Julien, He provided some regional culinary advice to DAVID EVANS, with promising results.
David Evans
Christmas lasts a little bit longer in Gap. Or does it? We’re assuming the good folk of Ogier’s hometown are a bit late taking the tree down, but maybe they’re just early putting it up. Either way, it made for a very picturesque trip through the centre of town – and offered another reason to search Slade.
“Are you hanging up a stocking on the wall? It’s the time that every Santa has a ball. Does he ride a red-nose reindeer?”
Never too early for Noddy and his mates.
“Are you hanging up a stocking on the wall? It’s the time that every Santa has a ball. Does he ride a red-nose reindeer?”
Never too early for Noddy and his mates.
Speaking of Santa Claus, the residents of Gap seem to think it's still Christmas, as DAVID EVANS has discovered.
But before we get back into the Monte action, a quick diversion to northern Finland.
Over in the land of Santa Claus, Valtteri Bottas is lighting up Lapland on his rallying debut.
Taking part in the Arctic Lapland Rally with a WRC-spec M-Sport Fiesta, the Mercedes Formula 1 driver has just taken his first ever stage win in rallying, going fastest through SS8 by 2.3s.
Admittedly his rivals are all running less powerful R5-specification machinery but it's still a sign that Bottas is acclimatising quickly to his new environment. It helps that he's got one of the most decorated co-drivers ever alongside him, two-time WRC champion Timo Rautiainen, who is usually Marcus Gronholm's right-hand man.
Bottas is still fifth overall but has over a minute in hand to his nearest chaser. He's 13.7s behind fourth place with two stages left, so there's still a chance for him to climb the leaderboard yet. Maybe he'll be asking Santa for a rally car come Christmas?
Over in the land of Santa Claus, Valtteri Bottas is lighting up Lapland on his rallying debut.
Taking part in the Arctic Lapland Rally with a WRC-spec M-Sport Fiesta, the Mercedes Formula 1 driver has just taken his first ever stage win in rallying, going fastest through SS8 by 2.3s.
Admittedly his rivals are all running less powerful R5-specification machinery but it's still a sign that Bottas is acclimatising quickly to his new environment. It helps that he's got one of the most decorated co-drivers ever alongside him, two-time WRC champion Timo Rautiainen, who is usually Marcus Gronholm's right-hand man.
Bottas is still fifth overall but has over a minute in hand to his nearest chaser. He's 13.7s behind fourth place with two stages left, so there's still a chance for him to climb the leaderboard yet. Maybe he'll be asking Santa for a rally car come Christmas?
Welcome back to our coverage of the Monte Carlo Rally. There's two stages to go this afternoon, a verbatim re-run of the morning loop, so expect more icy, slippery conditions
Autosport
That's a wrap for the first loop of Saturday's Monte Carlo Rally action. Here's all of what you just witnessed condensed into a nice, convenient report.
If you've not got breakfast yet, now's the time – we'll be back online at 11:30 GMT for SS11. See you then!
If you've not got breakfast yet, now's the time – we'll be back online at 11:30 GMT for SS11. See you then!
Despite being 17th overall, Suninen is now effectively sixth in terms of scoring manufactuers' points for M-Sport, with only the two best Toyotas eligible for those points. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that.
Information
Sorry for that brief delay but, with so many WRC runners now back under Rally2 or out during those two icy stages, the WRC2 runners are now making up much of the top 10's lower end.
Here's how we stand heading to midday service;
Overall classification after SS10 – St Leger les Melezes-La Batie Neuve
1. Ogier 2h08m33.1s
2. Neuville +5.3s
3. Latvala +1m45.5s
4. Loeb +1m50.2s
5. Tanak +2m25.2s
6. Meeke +5m30.4s
7. Greensmith +8m38.2s
8. Bonato +8m57.8s
9. Sarrazin +10m20.9s
10. De Mevius +11m18.5s
Here's how we stand heading to midday service;
Overall classification after SS10 – St Leger les Melezes-La Batie Neuve
1. Ogier 2h08m33.1s
2. Neuville +5.3s
3. Latvala +1m45.5s
4. Loeb +1m50.2s
5. Tanak +2m25.2s
6. Meeke +5m30.4s
7. Greensmith +8m38.2s
8. Bonato +8m57.8s
9. Sarrazin +10m20.9s
10. De Mevius +11m18.5s
SS10 St Leger les Melezes-La Batie Neuve 1 - Stage Classification
1. Tanak 10m12.1s
2. Latvala +5.8s
3. Neuville +6.6s
4. Meeke +6.7s
5. Ogier +6.9s
1. Tanak 10m12.1s
2. Latvala +5.8s
3. Neuville +6.6s
4. Meeke +6.7s
5. Ogier +6.9s
Quote
"Yeah, I think it's good. It's been a trick morning, especially the first stage. This one, there's still a little bit of ice in places.
"So far, so good."
Job done for Ogier this morning. His lead is now 5.3s, with Latvala in third now 1m45.5s behind.
"So far, so good."
Job done for Ogier this morning. His lead is now 5.3s, with Latvala in third now 1m45.5s behind.
Ogier's pace has dropped in the latter half of that stage. He drops 0.3s to Neuville. But I doubt he'll mind much.
Neuville does a 10m18.7s. How will Ogier respond?
Stopwatch
Ogier's gained 2.9s on Neuville by the halfway split. Looking good for the Frenchman in this lead battle with Neuville.
Quote
"I had a big moment in the first corner of the stage as it was icy. It was nastier than I thought," says Latvala.
Looks like that opening kilometre which caught out Elfyn Evans is keeping everyone on their toes.
Looks like that opening kilometre which caught out Elfyn Evans is keeping everyone on their toes.
Latvala arrives with 9.7s in hand over Loeb. He moves into third, taking a 4.7s advantage over Loeb into service.
Quote
"I stalled on the start and lost a bit of time there," explains Loeb.
"For the rest, it was not perfect. It was good grip but I was not very confident. Not a good stage."
That explains why he was 7s off at the first split, but the rest was just Loeb not feeling comfortable, it seems.
"For the rest, it was not perfect. It was good grip but I was not very confident. Not a good stage."
That explains why he was 7s off at the first split, but the rest was just Loeb not feeling comfortable, it seems.
Loeb arrives 15.5s down on Tanak's fastest time.
Latvala is 7.5s up on Loeb at the third split. He'll be taking third place heading into midday service at this rate.
Tanak says he had a "fancy" moment hitting black ice. Quite possible that's what sent Evans wide, then. Also an interesting description of a wayward moment from Tanak. Lovely.
And with a 10m12.1s to go fastest, treading the line is working well for Tanak here.
Tanak dipped a wheel off at the same corner that Evans crashed at. But he got away with it! Fine margins here.
Cause for concern for Loeb fans? He's 13.7s down on Tanak's second split. That's even slower than rookie Tidemand.
Meeke arrives at stage end 4s up on Suninen. That's fastest so far but Tanak is up on the splits.
Quote
"Start is quite dry but then after two kilometres, [there is] some icy corners. I was expecting it to be more icy so I saved too much at the beginning."
Suninen's nowhere near the overall top 10 but he's got a job to do for M-Sport now.
Suninen's nowhere near the overall top 10 but he's got a job to do for M-Sport now.
Suninen pulls into the stop control at the end of stage 10. He'll need to keep it on the road for manufacturer points now that Evans is off.
The front bumper is off but the car otherwise doesn't look that damaged. But the Fiesta is somewhat wedged between the steep bank and tree. There's no way out of that by the looks of it.
He took slightly too much speed, got two wheels off the edge, bounced along for several metres and almost managed to save it. Alas, he got sucked off road and clipped a tree.
That is a steep, steep bank. And it's barely more than a kilometre into the stage.
Crash
Evans has run wide at a fast left, fallen off the side of a bank and hit a tree.
Tidemand has finished the loop safely despite running out of spare tyres halfway through the first test.
Meeke was fastest in the first split but team-mate Tanak is even faster, 2.4s up on the Northern Irishman.
And there is, of course, a long quiet gap between those two. Esapekka Lappi now heading back to service with a dud Citroen C3. But Kris Meeke is on his way now, which should spice up the action one way or another.
Suninen is now on his way too. Not much for him or team-mate Tidemand to play for; they're 21st and 36th overall respectively.
Information
With Pontus Tidemand now on his way, time for a check-in with Seb Marshall, Kris Meeke's co-driver, for some expert insight into our next stage.
SS10 St Leger les Melezes-La Batie Neuve 1 (10.48 miles)
Two hundred metres after the start of this stage we go into a roundabout and do the full lap in a big drift. This looks great from the outside, but on the inside as we’re sliding around I’m already thinking and preparing for the next note, which has quite a lot in it.
The stage gets seriously quick from there on, you’re up on a plain and going through some hamlets. After five or six kilometres you get to the ski station and see the lifts up above you. We take a side road which is normally closed to the public and this takes us away and up over the col.
When we drop over the top the road goes into the trees and – I think – it’s north facing, so there’s always snow and ice in there. It can be a bit of a nightmare because it’s so slippery down there.
Out of the trees and we’re still descending through some wide open hairpins, with flat out bits between them. After that, slot right in the village and it’s done. It’s something different, a bit of a novelty around the ski area, but I couldn’t say this one would be anybody’s favourite stage.
SS10 St Leger les Melezes-La Batie Neuve 1 (10.48 miles)
Two hundred metres after the start of this stage we go into a roundabout and do the full lap in a big drift. This looks great from the outside, but on the inside as we’re sliding around I’m already thinking and preparing for the next note, which has quite a lot in it.
The stage gets seriously quick from there on, you’re up on a plain and going through some hamlets. After five or six kilometres you get to the ski station and see the lifts up above you. We take a side road which is normally closed to the public and this takes us away and up over the col.
When we drop over the top the road goes into the trees and – I think – it’s north facing, so there’s always snow and ice in there. It can be a bit of a nightmare because it’s so slippery down there.
Out of the trees and we’re still descending through some wide open hairpins, with flat out bits between them. After that, slot right in the village and it’s done. It’s something different, a bit of a novelty around the ski area, but I couldn’t say this one would be anybody’s favourite stage.
David Evans
Sebastien Loeb’s Hyundai i20 WRC has undergone a centre differential change overnight. After his first full day in the Korean car, the Frenchman told Autosport: “I feel OK when it’s good conditions. But on the crossed tyre, I don’t like this – the diffs are very open and I struggle to brake with the car and for the traction it’s not working so well for me. We worked on the diffs last night, let’s see…”
Sebastien Loeb might be up to third but it's been far from plain sailing for the nine-time champ on his Hyundai debut, explains DAVID EVANS.
David Evans
Today is Sebastien Ogier’s day. Both the stages run close to his home – with the Frenchman particularly well acquainted with the ski slope on the day’s second test.
Ogier told Autosport: “This is nice for Saturday we are really in my valley close to where I was born and living. It’s fantastic to be driving down those roads, the feeling and the atmosphere is always special – can you imagine to have a round of the world championship so close to home – but today is so nice for me and for the people from here.”
Ogier told Autosport: “This is nice for Saturday we are really in my valley close to where I was born and living. It’s fantastic to be driving down those roads, the feeling and the atmosphere is always special – can you imagine to have a round of the world championship so close to home – but today is so nice for me and for the people from here.”
As for those still running, rally leader Sebastien Ogier should theoretically feel more comfortable today than any other in the WRC calendar, as DAVID EVANS explains.
By: Matt Beer
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