Loeb’s lead cut to 3secs after morning loop

After five stages of the Rallye Monte Carlo, returning multiple champion Sebastien Loeb heads the time sheets, just 3s ahead of reigning champion Sebastien Ogier with a further one-minute gap back to Jari-Matti Latvala in third.

The story of the first full morning of competition was road conditions. The first of the three stages was icy and Loeb put in a storming time, potentially benefitting from his road position, of 14th on the road while Ogier, third on the road, lost out.

However, the following two stages featured far less ice and more damp conditions. As such, the corners became more and more muddy, with gravel being pulled out be subsequent drivers, making it harder for following cars. Over these two stages, Loeb, who gained 15s on Ogier on the first, lost some 25s again.
By the time the former team-mates arrived at the mid-day service in Gap, there were just three seconds separating them, after 107Km of stages.

Third place was held by Latvala, who gradually found his rhythm on the demanding stages while M-Sport debutant Ott Tanak was fourth, 13.4 seconds ahead of team-mate Elfyn Evans in fifth.

Following the 30-minute service, the crews will return to the same three stages for a repeat of the morning’s action.

However, this time round, road position will not be an advantage, as the entire field of some 90-plus cars will have been over the stages.