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By: Matt Beer

Summary

Status: Stopped
Have you got your breath back? We're not sure we have yet, so that's where we're going to leave Autosport Live.

Here's our full report from a breathtaking end to the Monte Carlo Rally. Thanks for joining us all weekend - we hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. We'll be back next month with full coverage of Formula 1 testing at Barcelona.
Monte Carlo Rally WRC: Ogier beats Neuville in final-stage showdown
SS16 results:

Stage times:
1 Meeke 9m37.3s
2 Ogier +3.9s
3 Neuville +5.7s
4 Tanak +5.7s
5 Suninen +8.5s
6 Latvala +9.6s

Final leaderboard:
1 Ogier 3h21m15.9s
2 Neuville +2.2s
3 Tanak +2m15.2s
4 Loeb +2m28.2s
5 Latvala +2m29.9s
6 Meeke +5m36.2s
7 Greensmith +13m04.6s
8 Bonato +13m56.5s
 
 
While Ogier rightfully celebrates his win, he wasn't quite fastest on the powerstage. Nobody could match Meeke's time in the end - the Northern Irishman claims five bonus points on his first rally with Toyota.
"It's the one I want to win most in the season," says Ogier of his success. "It's been tough because earlier we had this problem with the car on the throttle - it was pushing the car on the brakes.

"I love this rally - six in a row with three different cars, it's not too bad I think."
Ogier's final winning margin was 2.2s over Neuville - which Citroen says is its 100th victory in the WRC.
Ogier stalls his Citroen at the finish, but gets the C3 rolling down the hill.
He's done it! Ogier is 1.7s faster than Neuville on the stage and secures victory on the Monte Carlo Rally for a seventh time!
Ogier comes through the finish now...
Neuville went straight on through the finish (instead of braking for the hairpin) to maximise his speed across the finish.
Frustratingly, we're missing Neuville's final two split times - so there's no indication of how he compares to Ogier.
Neuville can't get close to Meeke'se time either, but goes 0.1s faster than Tanak. There's the benchmark for Ogier - a stage time of 9m43.3s will seal him the victory.
But Ogier responds with a monstrous run to the third split. He's 3.1s faster than Neuville there.
There's another twist - Neuville is now 1.5s FASTER than Ogier at split two.
Tanak comes through and can't match team-mate Meeke - he's 5.8s slower than his team-mate. That's still the second-fastest time so far, though, so his third place is secure.
Ogier is 0.7s faster than Neuville at the first split!
"We were not so fast," says Loeb. "We have to prepare to work on it [his pace]."
Neuville is 0.7s shy of current pacesetter Meeke at the second split.
Loeb comes through 1.2s slower than Latvala on the stage, to secure fourth on a first outing for Hyundai that included two stage victories. A fairytale podium looks unlikely, but that's a solid start for the nine-time champion.
Ogier alert - the rally leader is on the stage. Hold on to your hats.
Loeb's deficit on the stage to Latvala remains pretty stead, so he's still on course for fourth.
"It's a lot," he says of the gap to Meeke. "The feeling wasn't the same as last year with the car."
Latvala comes through the stage finish 9.6s slower than Meeke. Now we wait for Loeb...
Here we go - Neuville is up and running. Can he do anything to overhaul Ogier?
Loeb is 1.9s slower than Latvala at the third split, which would just about allow him to keep hold of fourth in the order.
"I was clean - I wasn't overly aggressive but I was very clean," says Meeke. "It feels good."
Meeke remains fastest of all so far at the splits and completes the stage in a fastest time so far of 9m37.3s.
Loeb and Tanak have taken to the road, so it's just our headline acts Neuville and Ogier yet to get going.
Tidemand completes the stage in 9m58.6s.
First competitive WRC times in from Meeke, who is 4s faster than Suninen at the second split.
 
 
It's not quite as intense as it was a little earlier when it was part of a battle for third, but there's another head-to-head still to be resolved for fourth place. The first of the drivers in that battle - Jari-Matti Latvala - is on the stage, with current occupier Sebastien Loeb next up to run.
Tidemand's team-mate Suninen is also on the road, as is Kris Meeke.

It's been a mixed first event in Toyota colours for Meeke, but there are no blots of his own making on his copybook. Let's see what he can do on the powerstage.
We have a WRC car on the stage - M-Sport driver Tidemand is up and running.
Two Frenchman complete the first batch of WRC2 runners tackling this test - Adrien Formaux and Yoann Bonato. Here are some notes on their performances this weekend from ALASDAIR LINDSAY.

Formaux's debut on the world stage has been highly impressive. The reigning French Junior champion is competing in only his second ever event in an R5-specification car but is already set for a podium finish in WRC2.

Bonato, the reigning French Tarmac champion who won back-to-back titles in 2017 and '18, is on course to finish the rally in eighth.
Greensmith comes through 14.9s slower than - not that he care one bit about that time.

The M-Sport driver says his WRC2 Pro win is "up there" with the best moments of his life, before dedicating his victory to his 2018 co-driver Dan Parry.
Rovanpera's rally was effectively over on Thursday evening when he slid his Fabia into a ditch, but the highly-rated teenager has kept it on the road since. He completes the stage in 10m07.2s, and looks comfortably quicker than runaway WRC2 leader Gus Greensmith.
 

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