After an action-packed opening day of Rallye Monte-Carlo, that kicked off with a spectacular season opening celebration in Monaco this afternoon, crews headed into the wintry mountains for two tricky night stages on route back to Gap this evening. Sébastien Loeb stunned his rivals by powering into the lead and Citroën’s nine-time FIA World Rally Champion takes a 13.3 second advantage after 40.99 competitive kilometres. Volkswagen Motorsport drivers Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala are second and third respectively.

 

On his return to the WRC, Loeb immediately set the pace in the first stage and finished the 21.31 kilometre test from Entrevaux to Rouaine with a 22 second lead. Despite the treacherous conditions, he claimed third in the next stage to overnight at the head of the field. Second-placed double World Champion Ogier clawed back time in the second test with a stage victory and he and Latvala are split by 22.8 seconds this evening. M-Sport World Rally Team drivers Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans have both got off to a great start and are evenly matched in fourth and fifth, while Kris Meeke and Andreas Mikkelsen are split by just one-tenth of a second in sixth and seventh respectively. The lead Hyundai is in the hands of Thierry Neuville, the Belgian pleased to have reached the end of the first day of competition after retiring in the opening stage last year.

 

Not everyone escaped unscathed, however. Martin Prokop was quicker than Ogier at the opening split in the first stage but the Czech driver clipped a barrier near the end of the stage and lost time. Dani Sordo went off in the same stage after braking late, and Robert Kubica spun in the following test and lost more time with an alternator and headlight problem.

 

Rallye Monte-Carlo – Unofficial Results after Section 1