Sebastien Ogier will take a 20.3s lead into the final day of the World Rally Championship season-opener in Monte Carlo after a Saturday afternoon dominated by Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.
The Toyota driver managed to extend his advantage across a second pass of the morning’s stages that had become incredibly dirty. The eight-time world champion made no mistakes to ensure his pursuit of a record-extending 10th Monte Carlo win remained on track.
Behind, the battle for the podium spots raged becoming a three-way fight between Elfyn Evans in second, third-placed Adrien Fourmaux and an inspired Tanak. Only 6.7s separated the trio after Tanak took a clean sweep of afternoon stage wins.
Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera continued to struggle, ending the day in fifth [55.0s] behind Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta [+1m43.7s], Sami Pajari [+4m09.9s], world champion Thierry Neuville [5m17.5s], Josh McErlean [+8m25.4s] and Rally2 runner Nikolay Gryazin [+8,33.0s] rounded out the top 10.
Changes made during the midday service seemed to work a treat for Tanak at the start of the afternoon.
The 2019 world champion claimed a second stage win of the event to date to snatch fourth overall from Rovanpera to the tune of 3.5s in stage 13.
Rovanpera reached the stage end only 4.6s adrift Tanak declaring that he had “no more to give” from his tools on a test that featured dry but dirty asphalt roads.
There were further changes to the leaderboard as Evans reclaimed the second position he lost to Fourmaux with a committed run that was only 1.9s shy of the pace set by Tanak.
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Fourmaux felt that he was “too cautious” driving on the soft Hankook rubber for the first time as he dropped to third 1.7s behind Evans.
Rally leader Ogier was unable to match the pace of Tanak, posting the fourth fastest time behind team-mates Evans and Katsuta. However, the time was enough to keep his rally lead at 18.4s.
Stage 14 featured arguably the dirtiest road surface so far with mud and gravel plastered all over the mountain pass.
The challenge was lapped up by Tanak, resulting in a stunning drive on super soft rubber to haul himself into the podium fight, slashing the gap to second from 24.5s to 9.6s. The wild run, which featured a couple of lurid slides, was rewarded with a time nine seconds faster than rally leader Ogier, who was glad to survive the test.
“It’s more gravel rally than tarmac rally, so dirty! I’m happy to have this one behind me,” said Ogier, who managed to extend his lead out to 24.4s.
The battle for second took another twist as Fourmaux reclaimed the position from Evans by 0.7s. The pair ran three super softs and one soft on their respective Hyundai and Toyota Rally1 cars.
Rovanpera held onto fifth but given Tanak’s pace, the Finn found himself 21.1s behind the top four overall.
Meanwhile, Neuville was fortunate to complete the stage unscathed after clipping a rock face with his right rear wheel, damaging the rim.
As the light began to fade, Tanak completed a stellar afternoon by winning stage 15 by two seconds from Evans to haul himself in the thick of the battle for second overall.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Rally leader Ogier again dropped time posting the joint fifth quickest effort alongside Rovanpera, but was pleased to complete the afternoon with a healthy lead.
The fight for second changed again as Evans retook the position from Fourmaux by 4.3s.
Further back, Pajari survived a wild moment when his GR Yaris performed a “wheelie” in his words while navigating a fifth-gear crest.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel held a comfortable 2m49.6s lead over his brother Leo, both driving Citroen Racing C3 Rally2 cars.
Three more stages await the crews on Sunday comprising 50.90 competitive kilometres.
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