Monte Carlo WRC: Neuville moves into the lead

By: Jack Cozens

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville grabbed the lead of the Monte Carlo Rally on Friday morning’s truncated loop of stages on the 2019 World Rally Championship season opener.WRC crews’ tyre selections were the biggest differentiator on the loop, with Hyundai drivers Neuville, Sebastien Loeb and Andreas Mikkelsen benefitting from bolder choices when the morning’s opening stage was cancelled due to spectator safety concerns.

SS3 was expected to contain the morning’s iciest conditions, so the Hyundai crews – which had each selected at least three dry tyres – were well placed to steal a march on the 14.94-mile fourth stage that opened proceedings, securing three of the top four positions.

Neuville was beaten to the fastest time on the Roussieux-Laborel test by Loeb, who scored his first stage win for Hyundai at just his third attempt, but immediately moved into the lead by 4.9 seconds ahead of overnight leader Ott Tanak.

Belgian driver Neuville was also beaten to the fastest time on SS5 by Sebastien Ogier, but his two-second time loss allowed him to retain his lead.

Neuville is now 3.4s clear of six-time champion Ogier, whose stage win allowed him to slot into second ahead of Tanak, the Toyota driver forfeiting 14s on the final stage of the loop.

Loeb could not repeat his SS4 win on stage five, but his earlier heroics hoisted him into a clear fourth overall in his Hyundai i20 – more than half a minute behind Tanak but with a 12.8s advantage over Mikkelsen, who was fourth on both stages.

Jari-Matti Latvala had a torrid time on SS4 and was only ninth fastest, but said he “finally” felt in his Yaris WRC on SS5, setting the third-fastest time to move up to sixth overall.

Esapekka Lappi is more than a minute behind Citroen teammate Ogier in seventh, in the middle of a gaggle of cars that includes Mikkelsen and Latvala as well as M-Sport driver Elfyn Evans and the third Yaris of Kris Meeke that are separated by 11s.

Pontus Tidemand currently occupies 10th in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta but is already more than three minutes behind rally leader Neuville.

Source and image: Motorsport.com and Crash.net

Top 15 classification after SS5 at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the first round of the 2019 World Rally Championship.

1. Thierry Neuville BEL Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 55m 21.0s

2. Sebastien Ogier FRA Citroen C3 WRC +3.4s

3. Ott Tanak EST Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +16.9s

4. Sebastien Loeb FRA Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +50.6s

5. Andreas Mikkelsen NOR Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +1m 03.4s

6. Jari-Matti Latvala FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +1m 05.6s

7. Esapekka Lappi FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +1m 09.7s

8. Elfyn Evans GBR M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC +1m 13.0s

9. Kris Meeke GBR Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +1m 14.3s

10. Pontus Tidemand SWE M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC +3m 11.4s

11. Yoann Bonato FRA Citroen C3 R5 +4m 04.4s

12. Gus Greensmith GBR Ford Fiesta R5 +4m 41.0s

13. Adrien Fourmaux FRA Ford Fiesta R5 +5m 05.4s

14. Stephane Sarrazin FRA Hyundai i20 R5 +5m 27.1s

15. Guillaume de Mevius BEL Citroen C3 R5 +6m 10.6s