Sebastien Ogier has won the 2017 Rallye Monte Carlo season opener, the former VW driver and reigning World Champion now aims to repeat his world rally supremacy with his new team, Ford M-Sport. His former teammate Jari-Matti Latvala finished second for Toyota, giving the Japanese car maker their first WRC podium win in 17 years. Third went to Ogier’s teammate Ott Tanak in the other Ford Fiesta RS which was running second until an engine failure rocked their campaign today.
Rallye Monte Carlo 2017 Results
The 2017 World Rally Championship has newer cars pushing up to 380hp in the manufacturer class, comprising of Ford, Toyota, Citroen and Hyundai. All four of them showed instant performance, the cars are faster and louder. Gentlemen running cars from the earlier season are now classified in WRC2, here you find Andreas Mikkelsen who now drives a Skoda Fabia R5. Mikkelsen was faster from day 1 and his consistency paid off as he won the class and ultimately finished in P7 overall. Skoda won a double podium in this class.
Hyundai had an early lead in the rally, Thierry Neuville had led since day one until yesterday when a slow left corner determined his fate. The Hyundai i20 WRC broke its left rear suspension forcing him to limp to the finish. Ogier was second all along, no one could match Neuville’s pace at that time but the Ford driver continued to trim bits of time until the Hyundai lost its pace.
Ford thus assumed a 1-2 positioned heading to the final day, one stage had to be cancelled today due to safety reasons after spectators came out in larger numbers than expected. Tanak followed Ogier, but a last minute engine failure left him running with only two cylinders. Latvala thus grabbed second, staying in this position till chequered flag. If anything, the ex-VW drivers have only proven it’s not just the car but the skills too after driving very ably.
If anything, Ogier and Latvala finishing 1st n 2nd only proves its the driver not just the car 💯 #RallyeMonteCarlo
— Karanja Earl Simmons (@Earlsimxx) January 22, 2017
Neuville won the final TV Power Stage to claim full points, he finished in 15th place. Dani Sordo stayed well within the top five throughout the rally and finished fourth for Hyundai. He was the only Hyundai driver to run an almost clean rally, Hayden Paddon retired after rolling on stage 1. Elsewhere, Craig Breen gave Citroen the best finish by taking fifth place.
Round 2 heads to Sweden on February 9 for the legendary Rally Sweden, this is yet another frozen rally running through the forests of Sweden.
[Photos by @World]
