Sebastien Ogier finishes day three of WRC Rallye Monte Carlo 2015 with a 42.8s lead over Jari-Matti Latvala; Andreas Mikkelsen completes the top-three followed by Mads Ostberg, Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville; Elfyn Evans lose over 2.5 minutes in SS12 after hitting a wall in the previous test and damaging rear suspension…
Indeed he posted the fifth fastest time in SS11, 7.4 seconds off Sebastien Loeb – the stage winner – and in SS12 he was eighth, 38.4 seconds off Kris Meeke, the Briton giving Citroen another stage victory.
Ogier now looks well placed to take his third win on the Monte and to start the new season in style.
Meanwhile, Latvala insisted he is not trying to go for the victory, even though he took 20 seconds out of his VW team-mate in the final test of the day.
“I don’t understand,” Latvala told the official WRC site. “I have no intention to catch him, but I really enjoyed this stage, I have a great rhythm.”
Volkswagen Motorsport II pilot Andreas Mikkelsen is next up, more than a minute back, with Mads Ostberg 53s further adrift in fourth.
Hyundai duo Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville have moved up to fifth and sixth respectively, split by just 4.7s with the former reporting steering problems in SS11 and understeer in SS12.
Elfyn Evans has slipped to seventh after damaging the rear suspension on his Fiesta RS WRC in SS11 when he hit a wall. The Welshman had to make temporary repairs to get through SS12 losing over 2 minutes and two positions on the leaderboard. It remains to be seen if he will make it back to service.
Behind, Ford privateer Martin Prokop holds eighth with Rally 2 runners Loeb and Meeke now up to ninth and tenth in their DS 3 WRCs after both retired in SS8 on Friday.
Henning Solberg had been running in the top-ten until he went off in SS12 and lost 2m 40s. He now sits in P12, one spot behind WRC2 class leader Stephane Lefebvre and one ahead of former F1 driver Robert Kubica. Kubica continued to show good pace today, winning another test – his fourth of the event – and then going second quickest this afternoon in both SS11 and SS12.
Ott Tanak is 20th, after going off the road in SS10 this morning and losing over 18 minutes. He had been running in P4.
Rallye Monte Carlo now concludes on Sunday with three stages on the bill and a competitive distance of 51.98 km. SS13, the 10.16 km Col St Jean-St Laurent 1, is scheduled to start at 09.30 hours local time [08.30 hours UK time].
2015 Rallye Monte Carlo: Overall standings after Stage 12 (Top 10):
1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 3h 00m 39.9s M
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +0m 42.8s M
3. Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen Motorsport II Polo R WRC +1m 49.8s M
4. Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +2m 42.8s M
5. Dani Sordo Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +3m 16.1s M
6. Thierry Neuville Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +3m 20.8s M
7. Elfyn Evans M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +4m 51.7s M
8. Martin Prokop Jipocar Czech National Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC +8m 17.5s M
9. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +09m 02.2s M
10. Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +10m 06.0s M
Story by: crash.net