Reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier has taken control of the Rallye Monte-Carlo field late this afternoon after Sébastien Loeb hit problems in the final two stages, dropping him from first to 10th after the final stage. The French Polo R WRC driver now heads both his team-mates, although second-placed Jari-Matti Latvala is nearly two minutes adrift and Andreas Mikkelsen is just under a minute further back.

 

Today’s route took in two identical loops of three stages covering 134.10 competitive kilometres and a typical mix of treacherous Rallye Monte-Carlo conditions greeted the crews. After claiming the lead last night, Loeb was immediately on the pace this morning, winning the opening stage. He again won the same repeated stage this afternoon, but in the penultimate test lost time with a spin and then in the final stage clipped a wall and damaged the suspension after gambling on his tyre choice. This dropped him six minutes and while he finished 10th after the stage, he dropped further down the order unable to reach the service park. Ogier, who was never off Loeb’s pace throughout the day, therefore climbed into the lead. The VW driver won one of today’s stages, largely uncomfortable with his tyre choices, but nevertheless holds a comfortable one minute 45.4 second advantage over Latvala. The Finn finished third last night but struggled to find the rhythm this morning which resulted in him dropping two places to the M-Sport drivers in the first stage alone. He climbed back to third and then into second following Loeb’s time loss and holds a useful advantage over Mikkelsen. 

 

M-Sport’s Fiesta RS WRC drivers Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans have had a great day and hold fourth and sixth respectively, sandwiching Mads Østberg. Tanak has been happy with his day but Evans has had a spin and been frustrated by his tyre choices; all three drivers are however in a close battle. Thierry Neuville continues to pilot the lead Hyundai i20 WRC and like everyone has not always found himself on the optimum tyre for the ever-changing conditions. His team-mate Dani Sordo is 30 seconds adrift in eighth with Martin Prokop ahead of 10th placed Henning Solberg. After his problems yesterday, Robert Kubica has had a mixed day, winning three stages, but with a 10 minute time penalty from last night the Pole is languishing down in 28th position having also gone off and picked up a puncture this afternoon. Citroën suffered double disappointment late this afternoon when Kris Meeke dropped out of fourth position in the final stage with similar problems to team-mate Loeb. The Northern Irish driver failed to finish the last stage.