Category: Rally

The event will run but with the loss of Craig Breen during a test day for the rally on the 13^th of April, the fourth round of the championship will be a very low-key event and the teams, drivers and fans will look to celebrate the life of the popular Irishman.

Here’s what the team principles of Hyundai Motorsport and Toyota World Rally team had to say ahead of the event.

Hyundai Motorsport

Cyril Abiteboul

“After careful consideration involving all stakeholders, we have decided to participate in Croatia Rally. We will do this in memory of Craig, to honour him, his passion for rallying and his competitive spirit. We will enter two cars and withdraw the third entry as a mark of respect. Both cars will run with a special livery for Craig, his family, friends and fans. It is clear from speaking to everyone that the best way to honour Craig’s legacy was not to withdraw our entry, so we participate mindful of our lost team-mate, friend and incredible competitor.”

How much consideration was given to withdrawing from Croatia Rally?

“Very careful consideration was given when making this decision. It was clear from the feedback given by all who knew Craig well that participating would be the best way to honour him. We consulted with the family, and they have endorsed this approach.”

What is the reasoning for the special livery?

“We are contesting this rally primarily to honour Craig and his incredible life and talent. Craig was a proud Irishman and passionate representative of the Irish rally community so the livery will represent the colours of the Irish flag in his memory.”

 

Toyota World Rally Team

Jari-Matti Latvala

“Along with the rest of the WRC family, we are truly saddened following the sudden loss of Craig Breen. As well as being a top driver, Craig was a real enthusiast for rallying, and we shared the same passion for old rally cars and for the history of our sport. As we prepare for the next rally, our thoughts are with Craig’s family, friends and his colleagues within the service park.

We know that the Croatia Rally can be a very challenging event: last year the conditions were extremely difficult, and even in the dry there is still a lot of dirt brought onto the road. It has been a good rally for us on our previous two visits and, together with our drivers, we will try our best to make it another successful weekend. As championship leader, Seb will be first on the road and this is a good starting point. Kalle had one of his best performances last year in Croatia, showing how good he is when the conditions get difficult, and we know Elfyn can also be strong whenever grip levels are changing a lot.”

Stage information

There will be 302km’s over twenty stages for the crews to tackle this year. Friday is the longest day with 130km’s over eight stages.

Summary

Well, I hope that the event passes with no problems. I suspect that we won’t see a normal celebration at the end and that it will be a respectful celebration of Craig Breen and his passion for the sport.

We head back to Mexico three years after the pandemic cut the 2020 edition short at the end of that events Saturday’s stages.

With 315km’s over twenty-three stages this season, there has been some talk about the number of short stages in this year’s event, with eight stages of less than 5km in length and five of them being the exactly the same stage. Not really rallying in my book, but the organisers say it is the way to bring the sport close to the fans.

We do see some true classic stages as well, with El Chocolate being run on Friday and the longest stage of the whole rally, Otates being run on Sunday. This a big one at over 35kms and a big challenge on the final day.

Let’s hear from the drivers.

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“During testing it was my very first time on gravel in the Puma Rally1 and it was very important to discover as much as possible. As most of the rallies are on gravel, we decided to do two test days in Spain. The team is working hard to keep improving, but to really understand where we are now, we need to do a gravel rally first.

“The key challenge for Mexico is the altitude and temperature together. Because of high altitude, the power is reduced which makes the behaviour of the car quite different. The roads in Mexico are actually fun, there are stages which are very technical, and it feels like we are driving them forever in the high temperatures, but there are also faster sections with big compressions and jumps. As we are leading the championship, we need to start first on the road on Rally México, it could be a good place to start if it rains, but not sure I’m that good a (rain) dancer to get the rain in a place where it almost never rains!”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“It will be the first time I am competing on a rally outside of Europe, that will be a new experience again for me. It’s exciting to be going back on gravel as my pace on gravel is good so my aim is for a strong result in Mexico.

“I think my experience of Greece and Sardinia last year will help me; things change rally to rally but experience always helps massively. The preparation for this rally has been good as it has been running for such a long time and there is a lot of material out there to help me study the roads. The test was fine, I am really happy about it because I re-found the feeling that I had in Greece last year and the car felt really strong. I think we have everything we need to do some good things and have the pace so let’s see.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s nice to be going back onto gravel after quite a long time, and it’s been especially long since we were last in Mexico. I’m sure it’s going to be a tricky event like always; with the high altitude it’s one of the most specialised gravel rallies on the calendar. But it’s really exciting to go back there. As a team we have been doing a lot of work to improve the car and the pace for rough gravel conditions, and it was nice to see already in our recent test in Spain that we’re definitely moving in the right direction. I’m quite happy not to be starting first on the road in Mexico – just one position can make a big difference. It might still be tough compared to those starting behind us, but we will of course do our best.”

Elfyn Evans

“It is good to have Mexico back on the calendar this year. It’s an event that always provides a bit of a culture shock in terms of the climate compared to the first two rounds, and it’s always a big challenge. This will be our first time back at that really high altitude for a few years, and we can always expect a lot of heat and dry gravel. It’s very difficult to replicate those conditions when testing in Europe at this time of year, but we tried to simulate it as much as possible. When the roads are dry and loose then traction is key, and we’ve worked on all areas of the car to try and optimise every aspect and be as ready as we can be.”

Sébastien Ogier

“When I knew that Rally México was coming back, I straightaway had to mark it in my calendar as an event that would be nice to do again. It’s where everything started for me in the WRC, as it’s actually where I made my debut in 2008, and since then there have been many good memories and a lot of success there. The atmosphere is always nice, with beautiful stages too. I hadn’t really driven on this type of gravel since Portugal last year, so the recent test in Spain was important for me to find the best possible feeling. It will be interesting to see how the hybrid can help against the usual loss of power we feel at high altitude. More than ever it could be important to use it as efficiently as possible because it could make a big difference to the performance.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport 

Thierry Neuville

“Rally México is a lovely event and is always one of my highlights of the season. It is a beautiful country with fantastic roads, and there is always a lot of support there. However, it will be challenging for a number of reasons: it is the first gravel rally of the season, it will be hot, and the high altitude is tough on the cars. This year it will be important to get the hybrid mapping correct and take advantage of that extra power. Setting up the car to have good traction and then driving precisely will be also very important to us performing well. Our target for the weekend is to be amongst the fastest crews and fight for another podium.”

Esapekka Lappi

“Mexico is always a special rally. Engine performance usually drops due to the high altitude and hot temperatures, so it will be interesting to see how that will feel with the new hybrid systems. The stages are almost the opposite to Sweden; they are a lot slower and very technical. It can also be quite slippery because of the small layer of loose gravel, meaning rear grip is particularly important. Our road position of sixth should be an advantage, as there should be some cleaner lines after the first cars have cleared the way. We want to have a consistent and strong weekend, as I feel we deserve it after the first two events. With that in mind, we should be firmly in the fight for the podium.”

Dani Sordo

“Rally México is an amazing event with really nice roads. The fans and spectators there have a lot of energy and passion which creates a great atmosphere for rallying. It is also unique as the high altitude causes the cars to have less power, making them feel a little bit different. Physically you have to be ready as the lack of oxygen and heat makes it very demanding on the body; it definitely makes you more tired. Our target for the rally is to finish as high as possible and we hope that is near the top. If we get it right, we believe we can be in the battle for victory, but we want to be on the podium as a minimum.”

In the WRC2 category there are a lot of cars running once again! Two of the main protagonists are running in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and Skoda Fabia Evo.

M-Sport Ford WRC2

Adrien Fourmaux

“It will be my second time in Mexico, last year I competed there in the Rally of Nations and finished second, so I am happy to be back there in a rally car. After our Monte-Carlo result our expectation is to fight for the best result as possible as we need the points for the championship. We know it’s always a tough rally in Mexico because it is really rough for the cars so it will be a big challenge for everybody. I am really pleased to be driving the Fiesta Rally2 again and can’t wait to get back on gravel stages!”

Toksport Škoda

Oliver Solberg

“After Monte and Sweden, you really have the feeling of coming a little bit to the summer.” “The temperatures are quite high, and the place is just fantastic. The atmosphere around this rally is always one of the best of the season. And the ceremonial start on Thursday night is totally amazing.”

“The altitude is a challenge we are competing as high as 2700 metres and that has an impact on the performance of the car. The air is thinner up there and that means less oxygen going into the engine. It also means less oxygen going into Elliott and I – it’s definitely a little bit more physical competing in México.

“I did this event for the first time in 2020, just before the world started to shut down with the global pandemic. I’m excited to be back there again, like I said the fans are some of the best in the world and I want to build on the great start to the year that we’ve had.”

Summary

Well, time then for round three of this season’s championship, and road position will be hugely important! It’s fair to say that the top three will find things very tricky with the amount of road cleaning that will be needed.

Best position should be fourth on the road onwards which puts Elfyn and Seb in a good position to benefit. Of course, the former champion has won this rally the last three years for his current team and also M-Sport Ford and Citroen Racing in 2018 and 2019. Elfyn has taken a podium in 2019 as well and has shown good pace throughout his career on gravel.

The question that may arise is how big will the super special stages affect the overall standings? Time will tell for sure, but my hope is the big stages will have the biggest impact on the standings and the ultimate result.

Enjoy!

The final day then of this epic rally and the action started at six in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise. The dark conditions meant that most of the top-class cars had their light pods fitted.

 

Once again, Takamoto opened the road and headed into SS16 Västervik 1 – 26.48 km. The stage winner was Kalle from Ott and Thierry. The gap opened up between Ott and Craig as the Hyundai driver was fourth fastest, now more than 11 seconds between them. In WRC2 Ole Christian was fastest from Oliver, whilst Marco was third. The Bolivian was holding fifth overall in the category. Meanwhile Teemu was recovering positions after his problems from Saturday and moved up into sixth in category.

 

Into the second running of SS17 Västervik 2 – 26.48 km and Thierry was fastest from Craig and Kalle. The big change came at the front though, with Craig taking a 10 second penalty after clocking in a minute late, as the team looked to put Thierry ahead of his teammate and into second place overall. The gap between the two was half a second! The gap that Ott now had over Thierry was 18 seconds. In WRC2, Sami was fastest from Ole Christian and Georg.

 

The final stage then, SS18 Umeå 2[Power Stage] – 10.08 km and there was drama aplenty in this one! First of all Takamoto retired from the rally and didn’t start the stage. Then as Pierre-Louis was going through the stage he was clearly losing power and started to slow down. They stopped their car and briefly jumped out and opened their bonnet with a fire extinguisher ready. There was no fire though and they restarted after being stationary for a brief and short time. However, they restarted in EV mode and drove slowly to the end of the stage. Then came Thierry who having gained second place with team orders, then slid wide, hitting a snow bank and was stationary for a brief couple of seconds. Now Craig had already started the stage and would have no idea that his teammate had this problem. Ultimately the Irishman would retake second place! Now, who was the stage winner and the other points scorers? Well, Esapekka was fastest from Elfyn, Ott third, Kalle fourth and Craig fifth fastest! In WRC2 the top three get power stage points and it was Oliver who set the best time from Emil and Ole Christian was third.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Sweden

1	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	2:25:54.5
2	C. Breen	J. Fulton	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+18.7
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+20.0
4	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+25.1
5	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:24.0
6	P. L. Loubet	N. Gilsoul	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+5:59.0
7	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+7:42.4
8	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Škoda Fabia RS	+7:48.1
9	O. Veiby	T. Eriksen	Volkswagen Polo GTI	+8:30.4
10	S. Pajari	E. Mälkönen	Škoda Fabia RS	+9:03.2

Let’s hear from the drivers

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“It’s quite impressive, not so bad at all. When we came into the rally, we didn’t really know what to expect. In the build-up to the rally, we understood that we were never going to be the fastest, but we’re happy to have kept our average pace pretty high and alongside the other guys.

“As a team, we made sure we didn’t have any bad stages and didn’t lose any time anywhere; that was the key. Sweden is unique, we only rally here once a year. It’s the same for Mexico, and opening the road there can’t be a big advantage! It’s a great start to the championship, probably more than we expected. For sure we can improve a lot, and the plan is to pick up the pace.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I first want to say a huge congratulations to Ott, Martin and the rest of the team. This weekend has been a huge achievement for M-Sport and I am very glad to be a part of it.

“I think I have a lot of positives to take from this weekend; Friday was a good day and we spent a lot of time on the pace of the guys at the front. We also achieved a second-fastest time, and considering I don’t have a lot of experience on snow-and-ice, I think we can be very happy with this. Sometimes we lacked the confidence to really push the car, and this is where we lost some time, but overall, I am happy. It was a challenge but we have learnt a lot, and now we look forward to a different challenge in Mexico.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Craig Breen

“To be back battling at the front of the WRC has been absolutely brilliant. I’ve said many times this weekend that I’ve missed that feeling but to come back after a difficult period with a podium is unreal. It’s James’s first podium, as well, which is fantastic for him. We can be very proud of what we’ve achieved here in Sweden. Massive thanks to the team for putting their faith in us, and to James for a faultless job. I am over the moon to be back with this amazing team and car.”

Thierry Neuville

“After a difficult Friday, in which we were one of the first on the road, I was not expecting this great result. Our preparations for the event were limited as I was sick for the pre-event test, so to come back to third place is incredible. It has been a strong rally for our team, with all three crews showing great performances and speed. With Craig/James taking second place and Esapekka/Janne grabbing five Power Stage points, there are excellent positives we can draw from the weekend.”

Esapekka Lappi

“There are many positives to take away from this weekend. We had good preparation for the rally and although the result wasn’t what we wanted; the pace was there. Second place would have been possible for us this weekend, so we need to be pleased with that, especially after what happened yesterday. We targeted the fastest time in the Power Stage. I didn’t think we had done enough, but in the end, we made it and gained some extra points. We need to build on this for Mexico, even if it will be an entirely different type of rally.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It has been quite a difficult weekend but at the end we can be fairly happy. On Friday opening the road we lost over 30s just in one tricky stage that we drove twice, and we are 25s behind at the finish so we did quite a good rally in the circumstances. This morning in the first stage we could straight away do a good time and be fighting with Thierry, but on the second pass we just lacked the pace with the car in those kinds of rutted conditions. We pushed hard the whole weekend but on the second passes of stages the times were not there. At least we won’t have to open the road in Mexico and we can go there with a fresh mind and hopefully have a good rally.”

Elfyn Evans

“This has been a tough weekend and not what we hoped and worked for. Personally, I have struggled to feel really confident in the car and on the back of that we made a couple of errors as well. In that sense I’m happy to at least come away with some points, but we come to rallies aiming for better performances and results than this. There are a few areas we will review after the event and work on for the future, but Sweden is always a very specific event. Now the focus needs to switch to gravel and I’m looking forward to Mexico.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I have felt really good with the car this weekend. Thanks to the team who fixed the car after my accident on Friday so that I was able to get a lot of experience from the Saturday and Sunday stages, which will help for the future. Unfortunately, we could not finish the rally today: I started to feel a lack of power and the engineers checked the data and saw there was an issue, so we couldn’t continue. I’m sorry for the team that we couldn’t get a good result here but I will try to perform well on the next rally.”

 

Oliver Solberg WRC2 Winner

“Really, it was,” smiled the 21-year-old. “This is such a nice result. I really feel we did a good job with this one. We were consistent, no mistakes, Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] did a fantastic job and so did the team. I’m very, very happy.

“OK, we were quite controlled in this rally, and when the road was really quick and nice and wide, we could make some margin and really push. I love those places. But it definitely wasn’t so easy. There was some understeer in the car on some of the twisty sections and we were running as the first car in the ruts from the Rally1 cars ahead.

Explaining the issue of following the Rally1 cars, Oliver added: “They are a little bit wider and they have more power, so they are making a set of lines and ruts in the road which we have to follow.

“But in some places, because our car is a little bit more-narrow, we have one set of wheels on the left or on the right side out of the ruts and jumping around. Basically, it makes the car a little bit unstable; this is no problem when you are in second or third gear, but when you have a lot of speed and you’re flat out in fifth then it’s not always making you smile!

“The main thing for me – the only thing for me – is that we came here, we took more experience from the car and we were able to win the event and take the maximum bonus points from the stage. I have to be very happy with that one.”

“I think it’s fair to say I am happy with everything in my life, right now,” he said. “The win, to be joint leading the championship and to be with this team and this car… it’s all good right now!”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’

After Round Two

1	O. Tänak	41
2	K. Rovanperä	38
3	T. Neuville	32
4	E. Evans	29
5	S. Ogier	26
6	C. Breen	19
7	E. Lappi	15
8	T. Katsuta	8
9	P.L Loubet	8
10	D. Sordo	6

 

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’

After Round Two

 

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	80
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	66
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	51

Summary

Well, what an incredible rally we were treated to! What a victory for Ott and Martin, but he was made to work hard for it by Craig and James. Ott and Martin now lead the championship and are the first to lead for M-Sport Ford since Seb Ogier in 2018.

Craig made a great return to the Hyundai after a year at M-Sport Ford. It was also only the second time that Craig and James competed as a crew, the last time of course at Rally Japan last year.

Finally, Thierry and Martijn did really well to get on the pace after a difficult Friday that saw Thierry strugglingly with sickness and not able to get the best performance. There was of course a use of team orders to get them onto the second step on the podium, but due to the error near the end of the power stage, they scored a very good third place that puts them into third in the championship.

The championship fight is very nicely poised with just 12 points between Elfyn in fourth and championship leader Ott. Next up is Rally Mexico on the 16^th to 19^th of March.

The second day of this classic rally and we saw some amazing drama throughout the stages. This day would be the longest with over 126km’s of competitive stages. The good news was that Takamoto was back following his roll in the second afternoon stage yesterday. The Japanese star would now open the road.

First up was SS9 Norrby 1 – 12.54 km and Thierry was fastest from Kalle and Craig. Ott was a bit off the pace with the sixth best time and Craig’s lead was now 4.6 seconds. Despite opening the road, Takamoto was not far off the pace, just 1.1 slower than Ott. In WRC2 and Oliver was again fastest from Ole Christian and Jari was third. However, there was a change in the positions with Ole Christian moving into third overall in the category.

Next up, SS10 Floda 1 – 28.25 km and Craig was fastest from Kalle and Thierry. The Irishman was rebuilding his lead over Ott, who was just 1.1 seconds slower and fourth fastest. Kalle was on the move and went past Elfyn into third, whilst Kalle pace also brought him into fourth overall. In WRC2 Ole Christian was fastest from Egon and Emil. The Norwegian’s pace took him up into second overall and Jari followed him through to third overall in the category, whilst Sami dropped to fourth.

Into SS11 Sävar 1 – 17.28 km and Kalle was again fastest from Thierry and Ott. The Estonian was closing on Craig for the lead, the gap between the leaders just 3 seconds. Meanwhile Ole Christian made it two stage wins in the WRC2 category from erstwhile leader Oliver. The gap between them was still over 30 seconds.

After the service break it was the world champion again setting the pace in SS12 Norrby 2 – 12.54 km from Ott and Esapekka. In fact, Thierry set the same time as his Finnish teammate for fourth in the stage standings. The Belgian’s pace took him ahead of Elfyn who spun in this one early in the stage and losing around 18 seconds. Meanwhile in WRC2 it was Emil who was fastest from Ole Christian and Oliver third.

Thierry was fastest in SS13 Floda 2 – 28.25 km from Ott and Kalle who spun in the stage, but stayed out of the snowbanks. There was huge drama though for Esapekka who spun near the end of the stage. He lost over seven minutes being helped out of the snowbank by the spectators. They did an amazing job to get the car out. When he came to the end of the stage, his tyre was completely delaminated. Craig also suffered the same problem. Oliver was fastest in WRC2 from Ole Christian and Sami and this trio were the top three as well.

Thierry was also fastest in SS14 Sävar 2 – 17.28 km, but in fact Ott was on target to beat the Belgian’s time, by a huge seven seconds. However, he suffered a delamination as well, just like Craig and Esapekka on a straight, again just before the final corners, ultimately going third fastest behind Esapekka. However, the Estonian still took the lead as Craig was 2.8 seconds slower. In WRC2, Oliver was again setting the pace from Sami and Robert, the young Estonian going well in this tricky stage.

The final stage then of the day SS15 Umeå 1 – 10.08 km and Thierry made it three in a row from Esapekka and Takamoto. Amazingly the Belgian’s stealthy pace had now taken him ahead of Kalle and onto the final podium position. They were on the same overall time coming into this stage, and with the Finn going 3.8 seconds slower, meant he dropped to fourth. Oliver kept his control over WRC2 winning the stage from Teemu and Sami. His lead was now a huge 51.6 seconds over Ole Christian, with Sami a further 22.3 seconds back.

Classification after Day Two

1	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	1:54:45.4
2	C. Breen	J. Fulton	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+8.6
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+23.7
4	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+27.7
5	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+57.7
7	P. L. Loubet	N. Gilsoul	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+2:28.1
…
11	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+7:26.4

Let’s hear from the drivers

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“A challenging day, quite challenging for tyres it seems, it was a shame that something outside is deciding results. But you know we had everything planned with the tyres and to take the time. The last stage was had to do with a tyre with no studs which was so tricky.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Craig Breen

“It was important for us to get this morning out of the way. There was a lot of talk yesterday about road position, but thankfully today we could keep a good rhythm, and were happy with the opening loop. We made it into service still in the lead of the rally. We all live for that feeling to be in the fight. I’ve missed it greatly, so I was soaking up every second. Unfortunately, we lost the hybrid quite early in the second stage of the afternoon. We carried that around with us for the rest of the loop, so it was a case of damage limitation. It’s a bit disappointing but that’s how it is. We will get everything back working again for tomorrow; the kilometres are few and the gap is relatively big, but we’ll keep at it and keep our shoulder to the wheel. Overall, it’s still been a good weekend so far, we just need to round it off in the best way we can.”

Thierry Neuville

“The main difference today has been our road position. Since we got better grip, we have been capable of showing our speed. The lack of pre-event testing probably didn’t help yesterday, but we made a few set-up changes overnight – not too many – and we had a clean run. There was no doubt that we were attacking yesterday, it’s just that our times were masked by the road position. Today, we could set several fastest times and close in on third place. It will continue to be a tough fight with Kalle; nobody will give up and we will certainly give everything we’ve got.”

Esapekka Lappi

“Like we all saw in the morning, we couldn’t match the times on the first two stages. The final one of the loop was improved, and in the afternoon we definitely had better pace. We drove fairly cleanly, and it felt like we could probably push a bit more. We were managing the tyres well, and it was generally OK. In the end, if you lose seven minutes stuck in a snowbank, it doesn’t help. We had a small vibration on the straight before, and I thought there was ice or something on the tyre. It seems the tyre delaminated; as I approached the final corner, I had no grip. There was too much snow under the car, and we were in the ditch on the other side, so we couldn’t get out easily. Now we must decide what our strategy will be for tomorrow – try to climb up the ranking or attack the Power Stage.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It has been a big fight today. In the first pass we did quite well. The feeling in the car was not perfect but still we could do some good times. The afternoon was not so good. I think we messed up a bit with our plan for the tyres. I don’t think we were necessarily wearing them more than our rivals but they were rotating them better between each stage; we ended up with worse tyres for the last two stages and lost too much time. But tomorrow there are still many kilometres to go with a new stage in the morning. We’ll try to do well on the first pass and see what we can do after that.”

Elfyn Evans

“Today has not been our day to be honest. I’ve struggled again to feel comfortable behind the wheel and I think that has shown in the times, and of course we had the spin this afternoon that has put us further behind. I’ve not been able to find the confidence needed so it’s been a disappointing weekend so far. With the pace we’ve had we’re too far away and now we just have to salvage what we can tomorrow; secure some points and see what’s possible on the Power Stage.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I was very happy to be back on the stages this morning. A big thank you to the team: they fixed the car perfectly. It looked and felt brand-new and I got back the good feeling that I had yesterday. The only thing that had changed was our road position. The conditions opening the road were quite difficult and a new experience for me on snow. There was a lot of learning and the pace was pretty fine when the conditions were OK, I was just losing time when there was a lot of snow and we needed to create the lines. Tomorrow I will focus on the Power Stage and try to push for some points there.”

Summary

Well, what a crazy second full day of competition! We had it all, spins, crews changing positions and sadly some tyre failures as well. The question now is, can Ott go on to take victory, or will Craig be able to fight back and retake the lead? Well, there are three stages and 63km’s left to run on the final day. In the WRC2 category, Oliver is on target to take victory and set him and Elliott with a good points haul for the category championship.

The first full day of stages would see the crews tackle 106km’s over seven stages. In terms of the starting list, the crews would enter the stage in championship order and meaning that Kalle would open the stages throughout the first full day. Between the stages, would be a 30-minute service break.

We’d already had one stage on Thursday evening and leading the way was Kalle from Ott and Elfyn.

First stage on Friday morning was SS2 Brattby 1 – 10.76 km and it was Craig that was fastest from Ott and Esapekka! Best of the Toyota crews was Takamoto. Craig’s time put him up to second overall, whilst Ott’s time put the Puma driver into the lead. Great to see! Also on the move was Esapekka, who’d jumped one place and into third place. In the WRC2 category Emil and Reeta were fastest from Teemu and Sami and therefore took the lead. Oliver Solberg was not happy with his run and was now in fifth place in the category.

Into SS3 Sarsjöliden 1 – 14.23 km and the conditions in the stage suited him and he was fastest from Esapekka and Takamoto. Elfyn went wide on a left hander, clipping the snowbank a little and losing some pace. He was only seventh fastest and dropped two places to seventh overall. Meanwhile it was all change in WRC2, with Oliver leaping up four positions to take the lead and we had a new driver in second place as well, Ole Christian Veiby taking that from Teemu who fell to third in the category.

Takamoto won SS4 Botsmark 1 – 25.81 km from Kalle and Ott whilst Elfyn started to climb the leader board, moving ahead of Thierry. The overall top three remained the same, whilst in WRC2, Oliver was second fastest in the stage from Sami, but remained in the category lead.

After the service break there was a few changes following SS5 Brattby 2 – 10.76 km with Craig winning the stage from Pierre-Louis and Esapekka! The Irishman’s pace took him into the lead, pushing Ott down to second place and Esapekka remained third overall. Unfortunately, Takamoto rolled his car in this one and dropped three positions to eighth overall. In WRC2 Oliver took another category win and was 10 seconds ahead of Sami, whilst Jari was climbing up the leader board and into third place overall.

Craig took another stage win in SS6 Sarsjöliden 2 – 14.23 km from Elfyn and Ott. The Irishman was increasing his lead over the Estonian, now up to 10.5 seconds ahead. In WRC2, Sami was quickest from Ole Christian, whilst the leader Oliver was fourth. The gap reduced just a little to 8.5 seconds.

Into SS7 Botsmark 2 – 25.81 km and Ott was fastest from Esapekka and Craig third. The gap between the leaders came down a little to 6.4 seconds. In WRC2 Sami took another stage win from Oliver, reducing his lead down to just 6.8 seconds. Crazy that at the top on both categories the gaps were so similar!

The final stage of the day then, SS8 Umeå Sprint 2 – 5.16 km and Kalle was fastest from Ott and Esapekka. Craig was sixth fastest and now his lead was just 2.6 seconds. He was pretty calm though and very happy with his day. Oliver was in a stronger position though having increased his lead to 13 seconds over Sami.

Classification after Day One

1	C. Breen	J. Fulton	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	57:05.5
2	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+2.6
3	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+11.2
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+26.5
5	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+31.1
6	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+36.8
7	P. L. Loubet	N. Gilsoul	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+1:16.2

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Craig Breen

“It is hard to imagine that things would be as good as they have been today. We have had a good road position, of course, but we also have a good car. We tried to use both to take an advantage; to lead the rally overnight is a bit of a dream. I feel completely comfortable in the car, it feels soft and cuddly. For the moment, I am happy with it but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. I still don’t feel we are at the peak of where we need to be. It’s far from over. Tomorrow is a long day, and we’ve seen today that it’s hard to make much of a difference. I will give all I can, and whatever happens it won’t be for the want of trying. It’s like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in this rally – everyone is invited!”

Esapekka Lappi

“Today has not been too bad but I feel there is much more to come. I was quite satisfied this morning, and thought we were where we wanted to be. It’s always good to be further up but it was a solid start. Our preparation for the event was good, and I like these conditions. I thought we would have a better set-up for the second pass but that didn’t happen as we’d expected. We will have a think overnight to see what changes we might make. We don’t want to do anything too drastic, especially with the feeling we have now, otherwise we risk something going wrong. There are small things to perfect as we try to find more improvements in our pace.”

Thierry Neuville

“It has been a very challenging day out there. We knew that road conditions would not be great for us as one of the first cars on the road, but we still had hope. Despite the conditions, we were incredibly unlucky to lose the bumper twice, this morning and this afternoon, so we were handicapped by that. We started the day five seconds behind Kalle (Rovanperä) and ended it 5.7 seconds back; we would have loved to turn things around but with the missing aero we just couldn’t. We had to limit the damage. Tomorrow, the road position is better but we still have the front guys behind us so it will be another challenge; we will give it our best shot anyhow.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“It’s been a very positive day, we were not expecting this coming here and it was difficult to predict, but it’s been an okay day and let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 

Elfyn Evans

“It was not a strong morning at all from our side, as I was struggling with the balance and not able to find full confidence. This afternoon was better; we made some changes to the car setup at lunchtime that seem to have improved the feeling a bit. So overall I’m happy with how the afternoon went but still we are not really where we would have wanted to be. We’re definitely going to keep trying our all. The stages are technical and it’s easy to be caught out, so anything can happen. We just need to keep fighting and hopefully continue to climb the leaderboard tomorrow.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“This morning the conditions were surprisingly good. In the first stage we lost a lot of time as we had expected given the snow was really soft and loose. But after that we could do good times when the conditions were nicer, so the time loss was not too big this morning. This afternoon was a huge challenge: I think the first stage of the loop was the most difficult stage on snow any of us have ever done with huge ruts and a lot of loose snow. We lost a lot of time there and just tried to keep it clean and stay on the road. But when we had conditions where we could push, we were quite fast compared to our rivals, so I’m quite confident we can do more with our road position for tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I felt really good with the car and very comfortable this morning. I was not pushing too much, but the feeling was there and the times were there also, so I was very happy. This afternoon I tried to keep a good speed without a crazy push, but the conditions were very difficult with lots of loose snow and deep ruts. In a fast corner near the end of SS5 I couldn’t slow down enough or turn the car fully because of the ruts and we went wide and hit the snowbank heavily, as we were way too fast. It was my mistake and I’m really sorry for the team. We had a really good start this morning so I’m very disappointed. Hopefully we can restart tomorrow and get that feeling back but let’s see.”

 

Saturday

What does tomorrow hold for the crews? Well with 126 km’s over six stages including the longest stage of the event at 28.25km’s.

Can Craig stay in the lead tomorrow, or will we see Ott get into his groove like we have seen in the past and go past his former Hyundai teammate? Can Oliver also do the same thing and stay ahead of Sami? One thing is for sure, it will be an amazing day on Sweden’s stages.

It’s time for round two already and the championship moves to Umeå. This year’s edition has 301km’s over 18 stages. It starts with a short stage on Thursday evening after shakedown. Saturday is the longest day of the rally with 126km’s over seven stages.

Of course, Seb Ogier leads the championship, but of course is not competing in this rally and this means that Kalle will open the road throughout Friday’s stages. We’ve seen in the past that he and Jonne can get great results on the loose surface rallies despite starting first on the road.

 

There are three drivers that would like to keep the world champion off the podium. One of them is his teammate and the other two are with Hyundai and M-Sport Ford. Any idea who I’m talking about? These drivers are Elfyn, Ott and Thierry and all three of them have stood on the podium and taken victory as well.

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It was great to start the season well in Monte Carlo with a good feeling and with good points for the championship. We hope to continue the same way in Sweden and to enjoy the rally. We only have one event like this each year and it’s always cool, to have the studded tyres on the car and push hard between the snow-banks – it’s something special. We had a good result in Sweden last year and we will try to repeat it this time. It can be tricky to open the road on snow and it depends a lot on how the conditions will be. Our pre-event test went really well, with perfect conditions and a thick layer of ice on the road. Hopefully it’s like that for the rally too and we don’t suffer too much running first on Friday.”

Elfyn Evans

“Overall, Rallye Monte-Carlo was a good start to the year even if our result was disappointing with the pace that I think we had. Now we head to Sweden and a completely different challenge. Even with the snow and ice, it’s still one of the fastest rallies on the calendar and especially since the base moved a bit further north last year; I think the stages are even faster and we will have some new ones on this year’s route that we are yet to discover. It’s a rally where it’s almost impossible to have a perfect car all the time, because the grip you have can change a lot within one loop of stages, but we were able to work through various options in our test.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m really excited for Rally Sweden. Driving on snow feels very familiar and comfortable for me and I really like these conditions. Being one of the team’s three nominated drivers will maybe bring a little bit more pressure than I’m used to, but this position is where I have really wanted to be. I’m sure there will be challenging moments, but I will try to manage them and bring good points for the team. I will just do my best and this is no different to before. In testing on snow, the feeling in the car has been incredibly good; I would say the team has made quite a big step since, one year ago and hopefully this gives us more confidence in Sweden. Of course, the other teams are also improving and developing so we will need to be ‘full attack’!”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“The roads of Rally Sweden are very fast, so the key is to find a good line and carry as much speed as possible through the stages. We showed that we can be competitive on snow and ice last year, so it is our hope that we can be quick again in Sweden this time around. Consistency across the weekend will be vital, which is always easier when the car is comfortable to drive, meaning setup will be very important. Road position can also play a factor; if it is cold and icy, then it is best to be early in the starting order. However, if there has just been some fresh snow, then it is better to be on the stages later on. We want to be fighting for the podium positions from the start to finish, and of course we will try to beat as many of our main competitors in the championship as possible.”

Esapekka Lappi

“Rally Sweden has always felt like a second home event for me because it is very similar in profile and surface to the fast Finnish roads that I know best. I believe that we will be getting proper winter conditions this year, allowing us to have lots of fun between the big snowbanks. The second pass in Sweden is always special due to the narrow ruts that require you to quickly adapt your, driving. Preparations for the rally will be important, so we must make the most of the pre-event testing and our Finnish Rally Championship experience. If we can bring everything together, we will be back on the podium again like we were last year.”

Craig Breen

“Rally Sweden is always an event that I enjoy, and a place where I have been able to bring home some of my best results in the past. We only have one rally a year where we get to drive in true winter conditions with the studded tyres, so that makes Sweden even more special. The stages will be very straight and very fast, meaning you need to be committed to be quick. With quite a few stages taking place in the dark, it’s really important to make sure the pace notes are accurate. In an ideal world, I would love to leave Sweden having stood on the podium again, but with it being my first competitive event in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid, this will be a challenge. Ultimately, my main goal is to enjoy the experience.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“This has been our first opportunity to try out the car on snow and ice. Some things seem to be there, and we are gradually growing in confidence. This is why it’s critical to do this rally in Estonia, to get some more experience across different conditions, and we’ll find out how far away we are from the right set-up.

“Personally, I feel much more confident on snow, so we’ll see how we compare to the other guys. If it’s icy it’s better to be out earlier on the road, and if its very snowy it’s the other way around. So, it really depends on the conditions, we’ll just have to see what the weather does. Either way we are ready for the action, we have no choice!”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I’m very happy to be going to Sweden. This will be my second time there, but my first time on the new event in Umeå. I’m looking forward to the experience and aim to deliver a good, clean rally which will be the most important thing for me next weekend.

“Everything is still very new for myself and Nicolas, so it is important to gather as much experience and knowledge as possible and use that to build confidence ahead of the upcoming gravel events. Let’s try our best to deliver a good result and enjoy this new experience!”

WRC2 overview

There is a good entry for the WRC2 class as well, with twenty-five cars from Skoda, M-Sport Ford, Citroen, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

 

Oliver Solberg will take to the wheel for the second time this year to his Toksport run Fabia RS, but the first event of his WRC2 title campaign.

Here is what he has to say following his test last week.

 

“So now, it’s Sweden and my home race, It’s special. We drove for two days in the north, working with the team to find a good set-up for this week. It was really, really cool – like minus 24 on the first day! On Sunday it was much warmer… it was only minus 12 Celsius! We had some really good ice on the roads. We’ve had two great test days with several roads to choose between to help us get the cars set up for the mission ahead.”

 

It’s my home event,” he said. “You want to go well on every event, but there’s always a little bit more incentive when you’re at home and you can see the flags and everybody waving. I love the winter rallies and this one can be a really special one. We know there’s a lot of really tough competition with some big names and fast drivers in WRC2. All we can do is our best and I’m looking forward to doing that.”

 

Hyundai WRC2 team

Teemu Suninen

“Ever since the beginning of my career, Rally Sweden has been one of my favourite events. As it is our first time on snow in this car, testing will be very important for us. However, I hope my previous experience in wintry conditions will help me find a good feeling in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. The stages themselves are relatively technical but with fast sections. It will be very tight, so we must be on the limit from the start to be competitive. We will also need to be brave and confident if we want to end the rally on the podium, and that is our target.”

Fabrizio Zaldivar

“I am very excited to be driving in snow again! Coming from a country with no snow, competing on this surface is always very special to me and I have great confidence in our Hyundai i20 N Rally2. This will be my first time in Umeå; I have no previous experience of the stages. I just hope there is enough snow to be able to enjoy the stages on both the first and second passes. Our aim for the weekend is to improve stage by stage and above all gain more confidence on this surface, which will surely allow me to obtain better times between each runs.”

 

Summary

Expect a big fight for victory this weekend between the three drivers that have taken victory in the past. For some there will be a fight for the final podium spots, and I suspect that we can look to Craig to be right in the fight for this.

Enjoy the rally!!

The former champion and Vincent Landais took a great victory in the season opener. Here’s the story as to how they seized the lead and made history.

Thursday

Two evening stages got things started the rally and the startlist was the finishing positions from last season’s championship. Rovanperä, Tänak, Neuville, Evans, Katsuta, Ogier, Sordo, Lappi, Loubet, Serderidis.

First stage then, SS1 La Bollène-Vésubie / Col de Turini 1 – 15.12 km, and Seb took the first stage win from Elfyn and Thierry. Best of the M-Sport drivers was Ott, who was sixth fastest, whilst Esapekka making his first start for Hyundai was eighth fastest. It was great to see Welshman Elfyn right there, just 1.3 seconds from Seb.

Into SS2 La Cabanette / Col de Castillon – 24.90 km and Seb was fastest again, with Elfyn second and Ott third. The 2019 world champions pace lifted them ahead of Thierry and into third overall. In the WRC2 category, Nicolay was building a lead over Stephane, the gap between them just 1.3 seconds.

Let’s hear from the drivers

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Sébastien Ogier

“I think we are always happy to get through this first evening in Monte Carlo because we know there can be a lot of surprises. Tonight, there were not so many, but there was still this salty and slippery section at the end of SS1 and this very icy corner in SS2. So it’s good to put that behind us and to be in the lead with two stage wins is always positive. But the gaps are not that big. It’s just the start of this rally and we have to carry on like this tomorrow. There’s a long way to go, we have to keep the focus very high and try to keep this rhythm going and stay out of trouble.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s always exciting to start Rallye Monte-Carlo in the dark, it’s a pretty special feeling. I managed to settle into a pretty decent rhythm quite early on in the first stage and set a decent time. It was mostly dry but quite slippery towards the top of the Col de Turini. I was a bit more hesitant at some points in the second stage – we found some black ice in one corner which was quite hairy. Overall though it’s been a solid start and a decent evening, with a massive day ahead tomorrow.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It has been quite a good start for us. The plan was just to start with a safe pace and we are in the fight with the others, so it’s a good place to continue from tomorrow. SS1 was quite tricky, it’s not really my favourite style of stage and there was even some cleaning at the end for us with quite a lot of salt put down on the road, so those behind us were quite a bit faster there. SS2 was also a clean drive. I was just a bit too careful with my ice notes on a frosty section. But overall, it’s been a pretty nice start.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“I need to get used to the car, it’s quite different and it’s doing some good things and some things that I’m not used to, let’s see tomorrow. When conditions were a bit tricky I would say that we were driving a bit better and when it was clean and racy we were still a bit behind.

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“The first two stages of the rally went OK. I was a bit cautious on the first one, but we had a much better rhythm on the next. We got caught out on the only icy corner, which was not in our notes, and it’s still a question mark where that came from to be honest. I stalled the engine and lost seven-to-eight seconds. Other than that, we had a decent run and felt OK in the car as well. We were fastest up until that point. The last five or six kilometres were a bit of a struggle as tyre performance dropped off, and we lost a bit on the final split because of that.”

Dani Sordo

“I don’t like to make excuses; we were not on such a good pace today. In the first stage, I was feeling good. I was a bit scared of the tyres, but it was narrow at the beginning and the others pushed hard. The second stage was more or less OK. There was one part in the middle which I took very carefully because they said there was black ice in some places, but in the end, it was only at one corner. So, for one kilometre I lost a lot for no reason. The car looks and feels good; I’m happy so let’s see. We need to catch up a bit but tomorrow is another day.”

Esapekka Lappi

“It’s not ideal where we are, but I wouldn’t say there is any drama. The first stage was better than the second. There was an icy corner which I was afraid of; I was expecting ice elsewhere after that and I was just too careful and lost a lot of time. In the end, it was only in one place but when you don’t know, it’s better to take this approach. Still, it’s not a nice feeling to see you’ve lost 30 seconds. We had good grip, and the car turns well, but for some reason I don’t trust enough to keep the speed through the apexes; I need to understand why I’m thinking like that and braking more than I should. There are many new stages to come, and plenty of new opportunities.”

Classification after Day One

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	26:33.7
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+6.0
3	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+15.4
4	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+15.5
5	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+17.1
6	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+32.1
7	P. L. Loubet	N. Gilsoul	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+40.3
8	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+41.4
9	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+57.0
10	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+1:06.6

 

Friday

The startlist remained the same from Thursday’s two-night stages.

First up was SS3 Roure / Roubion / Beuil 1 – 18.33 km and Seb was once again fastest from Elfyn whilst Kalle who was third fastest jumped ahead of both Ott and Thierry and into third overall. The Estonian was now in fifth place, but happy with his run through the stage. The WRC2 leader was still Nikolay, but he led from Yohan now who had moved ahead of Stephane.

Into SS4 Puget-Théniers / Saint-Antonin 1 – 19.79 km and Seb was again fastest from Elfyn and Thierry. Kalle was only sixth fastest and dropped two places behind Thierry and Ott. In the WRC2 category, Oliver Solberg, who was not actually competing for championship points was setting a very fast pace and was fastest in that spec of car. However, the leaders were Nikolay, Yohan and Stephane.

SS5 Briançonnet / Entrevaux 1 – 14.55 km was next and Kalle was second fastest from Seb, whilst Thierry was third. The young world champion was back ahead of Ott, but the big shame from this stage was that Elfyn got a puncture and dropped from the lead battle down to fifth overall. Also dropping some positions was Pierre-Louis who was suffering with brake problems when trying to turn the car. He was now in ninth overall. He’d want to climb back up the leaderboard.

Into SS6 Roure / Roubion / Beuil 2 – 18.33 km and Elfyn came back from his disappointing puncture to set the fastest time from his teammates, Seb and Kalle. He was targeting former teammate Ott who was currently in fourth overall and just 10 seconds ahead. Meanwhile Kalle has brought himself up into second overall, passing Thierry. Unfortunately, Pierre-Louis and new co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul were still suffering technical problems this time with the powersteering not working.

Into the penultimate stage of the day then, SS7 Puget-Théniers / Saint-Antonin 2 – 19.79 km and Seb was fastest from Elfyn and Kalle. The Welshman closed the gap to Ott with his pace, reducing it to just a little over four seconds. The top three in the WRC2 remained Nikolay, Yohan and Stephane.

Into the final stage then, SS8 Briançonnet / Entrevaux 2 – 14.55 km and Kalle set the best time from Thierry and Seb. Elfyn could only manage the seventh best time and remained 8.1 seconds behind Ott and in fifth overall. Meanwhile in WRC2 the top three remained the same with Nikolay 29 seconds ahead of second placed Yohan.

Classification after Day Two

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	1:26:39.4
2	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+36.0
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+37.9
4	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+54.2
5	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:02.3
6	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+1:30.2
7	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:33.1
8	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+1:57.7

Sébastien Ogier

“It has not been a straightforward day but it has been positive overall; we have arrived back in Monaco tonight with a good lead and that’s what matters. This morning we were without hybrid power for two stages and I knew I had to push very hard and take some risks to compensate for it, and I was surprised that we were still fastest. Thankfully the issue could be fixed before the afternoon and we could benefit from that extra boost once again; we could keep a more normal rhythm and even managed to build our lead a little bit more. It will be a long day tomorrow and we’ll try to drive as clean as possible.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Today has been not too bad. Of course, I cannot be fully happy; on the morning loop we lost a bit too much time but the stages were also quite salty and dusty for us running first on the road, so it was not easy. It definitely felt much better this afternoon on the second pass of the stages. We had a lot more grip and the times were also better. It’s good to be in the fight. Seb has been much faster than anybody else so far, but we are still in a close fight with the guys behind so we have to continue to push and see what happens.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had a pretty decent start again this morning; quite similar to last night in that Seb had a small edge and we were just behind him all the time. I had a good feeling in the car, things have been working well and it’s all coming quite naturally. Unfortunately, the puncture just before lunch dropped us down the order. This afternoon we tried our best to claw back what we could, although we didn’t have the best final stage. But there’s still plenty of kilometres to go and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I think a good resume for the day would be to say we’ve maximised all we could in the circumstances, especially if we take our tyre choice in the morning into account. We expected better pace in the afternoon but there wasn’t more to find. I tried to push a couple of times, but we were missing a bit. We had very stable conditions between both loops; perhaps the final stage of the day was a bit dirtier than the morning but generally things have been straightforward. Tyre choice has made it more difficult because we’ve had to manage things carefully. Nobody can be truly confident in Monte. Tomorrow is another long day, in fact a longer loop than today, with more abrasive stages and possibly higher temperatures. We hope for a good strategy.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We have had the same challenges today as we had on Thursday; I have been too slow everywhere and generally too shy to make the entries of the corners fast enough. The car doesn’t feel too bad but for some reason the times are going away too quickly. We need to find out why. We made some changes throughout the day, and made a good step with the suspension, but we need to find more. We also must consider that we’ve been better on the final stage of the loop maybe because we have more performance left in our tyres. It’s a possibility. We will analyse the data with the engineers this evening; it might be a long night, but we need to try and improve, it’s the only way forward.”

Dani Sordo

“Honestly speaking, it has been quite a disappointing day. I had a good feeling with the car because the stages were nice to drive and in really good condition; I don’t know why, but we were just too slow. I haven’t had the precision that I needed, and we were losing the same amount of time on each stage. We could make a few adjustments to the car in between stages but it was difficult to get the feeling on the narrow roads and through the slow corners. It hasn’t felt bad; it’s just not been fast, we will try to do something in service, analyse things closely and make some changes to the car. Tomorrow is another day, and we will try to unlock some more speed.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“In the end it was a consistent day, the comfort is there, but the speed is missing. The grip was improving throughout the day and the stages were getting more racy, not something you’d expect from Monte. We want to improve and find the right direction and find more performance in the car and for sure there are many things that we will see what we can do.”

Saturday

The second full day of competition would see the top ten reversed with the leaders coming through the stages last. The start list would therefore be reversed and looked like this – Serderidis, Loubet, Lappi, Katsuta, Sordo, Evans, Tänak, Neuville, Rovanperä, Ogier.

SS9 Le Fugeret / Thorame-Haute 1 – 16.80 km was first up and saw Kalle pip Elfyn for the stage win, just six tenths separating the teammates! Seb was third fastest, still over 33 seconds in the lead. One driver on the move up was young Japanese star Takamoto, who passed Dani and moved into sixth overall. The Spanish driver was really struggling out there. However, at least he was still out there. Pierre-Louis lost the rear of his car and hit barrier, damaging his rear suspension and was out for the rest of the day. In WRC2 Nikolay increased his lead to almost 40 seconds over Yohan with a great time just 4.9 slower than Dani Sordo.

Into SS10 Malijai / Puimichel 1 – 17.31 km and Seb hit back with the fastest time from Elfyn and Kalle. In fact, the Welshman’s pace took him ahead of Ott and into fourth overall. The Estonian reported problems with his power steering. Elfyn’s next target was Thierry who was just 19 seconds ahead. Could he catch the Belgian? Meanwhile, EP seemed to be getting to grips with his i20 and was just a little bit off the pace of Thierry and much happier with the changes made to his car overnight.

Kalle took SS11 Ubraye / Entrevaux 1 – 21.78 km from Seb and Elfyn, who actually set the same time. Thierry was only a little slower than Elfyn with the fourth best time, so the gap remained over 18 seconds between them. Meanwhile, Nikolay had increased his lead to almost 45 seconds over Yohan in the WRC2 category.

Thierry won SS12 Le Fugeret / Thorame-Haute 2 – 16.80 km, just denying Elfyn from the fastest time. This was Hyundai’s first fastest time of this season. His teammate, Dani was suffering with hybrid problems and Ott was also continuing to have power steering issues, but they were only where the sections were tight and twisty. Meanwhile, Esapekka got a puncture and dropped some more time.

Thierry made it two out of two, winning SS13 Malijai / Puimichel 2 – 17.31 km from Kalle and Elfyn. The Belgian as opening up the gap to Elfyn a little more. In WRC2, Nikolay had a huge lead over Yohan that was approaching 50 seconds.

Kalle won SS14 Ubraye / Entrevaux 2 – 21.78 km from Thierry and Elfyn, but the big surprise was that Seb lost close to 10 seconds from his erstwhile lead and the gap between them was just 16 seconds. There was drama in WRC2 as well as Nikolay got a puncture and lost 35 seconds to Yohan, the gap was now just 10 seconds!

Classification after Day Three

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	2:15:31.5
2	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+25.8
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+35.1
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+57.6
5	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+1:20.8
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:05.8
7	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+2:38.7
8	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+2:59.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It has been another good day. I knew that today’s stages had the greatest risks in terms of cutting and in our position, I didn’t want to take any risks. You get nothing extra for stage wins and we had a gap that we just had to manage. I accepted that we would lose some time and just minimised the risks. It was a very clean drive and that was the plan and I’m happy to get to the end of the day. Kalle did a very good job today and we are now in a strong position to score a one-two for the team. But there are still four stages to go tomorrow and we have to finish the job.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Today has been really good for us. This morning we were straightaway able to set good times. It felt a bit easier starting further down the road order, as there was a bit more grip on the racing line. The car has been feeling good and we’ve not really had to make any changes to the setup. This afternoon I was struggling a bit more when the road was really dirty. But the last stage in the dark was definitely a good one; it was a bit cleaner and I tried to push. Tomorrow’s stages are maybe not my favourites and Seb knows them so well that I don’t think there’s a chance to catch him. I’m sure he will be fast and there are not so many places to make differences. We’ll just try to maintain our pace and our position.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a long day but a pretty good day overall. I’ve enjoyed the driving and the feeling in the car. This morning we didn’t take as many soft tyres as the others and with today’s stages being quite abrasive, we suffered a bit towards the end of the loop. This afternoon we gave away a little bit of time in the dirtier conditions which was slightly frustrating. I could feel myself just not quite taking the risks needed to go really quickly. Tomorrow we’ll have some nice stages and we’ll see what the weather brings for the final day.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I think we have improved; we have been capable of setting some good times. We are still in third and it has required a bit of a push on today’s stages. We gave a lot on both loops and there wasn’t much more we could do. We’re now 16 seconds behind Kalle. I don’t think we can catch him on pure speed, I think we are a bit below, but we are going to continue to try, nonetheless. Essentially, the car has been moving too much in the dry conditions. Tomorrow, we will have another run of Col de Turini, this time in daylight; it’s going to be fun!”

Dani Sordo

“We have had some issues with the hybrid system today, but I am realistic enough to know we have generally not been on the pace we wanted to be this weekend. We have tried to make some changes to find improvements, but we haven’t found anything yet to unlock the solution. I haven’t had the feeling I need to get the confidence for these stages. I was hoping to be more on the top, but we haven’t been, which is disappointing. Hopefully, tomorrow might bring something different but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Esapekka Lappi

“A much more positive day. We managed to find some settings overnight that were better for me. Like I said before, it didn’t feel bad, but the times were not there. Today, I started driving the same way as on Friday, but the car told me I could go faster, and it was safer to push harder. That’s why the times suddenly improved. We’re not winning stages or matching Thierry’s times, but we are way closer than before, which is a very promising direction. I still haven’t found the limit but there’s now much more potential. The objective is to keep improving from here.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“The last stage meant the problem was quite manageable, (commenting on his power steering problem) and the last stage was more bumpy and affected it more, but not a full failure and basically just heavy steering. Some internal issue so nothing we can do at the moment.”

Sunday

The final day then with nearly 68km’s over four stages and Pierre-Louis was back out with his repaired Puma and starting first on the road. He was just out there to gain experience for the future.

Seb started off well winning SS15 Lucéram / Lantosque 1 – 18.82 km from Elfyn and Kalle. It was a very good time that saw the Frenchman pull away from Kalle. In the WRC2 category, Yohan was fastest from Nikolay and now the gap between them was just five and a half seconds. Stephane was also on the move passing Pepe Lopez for third place in the category.

Onto SS16 La Bollène-Vésubie / Col de Turini 2 – 15.12 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Thierry. Elfyn could only manage the sixth best time as he suffered a spin on one of the many hairpins in the stage. He commented that he thought something had broken and that when he came off the throttle, that the car just rotated around. In WRC2 Nikolay was still leading by just 4.7 seconds from Yohan after the Frenchman was fastest in the stage. There was drama though for American Sean Johnston in his C3 rally2 as he lost control at the top of the Col du Turini and hit the wall which led to his car spinning and getting quite badly damaged. He and his co-driver Alex emerged fine.

Seb took SS17 Lucéram / Lantosque 2 – 18.82 km from Takamoto and Kalle. Esapekka set a great time going fifth fastest, just half a second behind Thierry. It seemed that the Finn was getting in the right pace on his first competitive outing in the i20. Unfortunately, Pierre-Louis suffered a mechanical failure on the road section and retired from the rally.

The final stage then, SS18 La Bollène-Vésubie / Col de Turini 3[Power Stage] – 15.12 km and early pacesetter Ott was denied by Kalle by just six tenths of a second and he took the stage win and maximum points for the stage win. Elfyn, Thierry and Seb rounded out the top five fastest times in the stage and took the remaining points.

Meanwhile Seb Ogier had taken his ninth Rallye Monte Carlo and Vincent Landais his first! Rounding out the podium was Kalle and Thierry.

Final Overall Classification –Rallye Monte Carlo

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	3:12:02.0
2	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+18.8
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+44.6
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:12.4
5	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+2:34.9
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+3:32.6
7	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+3:47.5
8	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+3:51.3
9	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+10:03.4
10	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3 Rally2	+10:07.9

 

Driver comments

Sébastien Ogier

“It has been a perfect weekend. This rally means a lot to me and to win it is always something very special, so I’m going to really enjoy it. I think I can be proud of myself and proud of my team. It’s been quite a dominant weekend for the team. Toyota once again provided us with fantastic tools so thanks to them. It’s an amazing way to launch the season with a one-two finish and it was a strong performance from Kalle as well. Yesterday was hard for my nerves; I knew I could go faster but I didn’t want to take risks at all. Today I knew it was more about pure driving and could enjoy the end of the rally. I’m so happy for Vincent as well. It’s his first WRC win and he deserves it so much; he has done a perfect job to my right-hand side in only our second rally together.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“I have to say we are really happy with this weekend. There was a bit more road cleaning for us to do in the beginning of the rally than I had expected, so we lost a lot of time there, but after that the pace was really good. When we had a clean road, we had the same pace as everybody else, we were fighting for the top times, and finally we could also take full points on the Power Stage so we have really good points to start our season. The team has done a great job with the car; I think all of us were fast and quite confident in the car. Big congratulations to Seb: he’s the master of Monte Carlo.”

Elfyn Evans

“Overall, the weekend has been a positive one for us. It’s been a pretty good one in terms of pace and we probably had the potential to achieve a bit more. Some frustration on Friday put us out of contention for the podium but that’s rallying and the way it goes sometimes. After that, fourth was probably the best we could have done and the gap to third was just a bit too big. Still it’s solid points to start the season and a decent performance. The car was working really well; the team have been working hard and it shows in the overall result here.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m happy to finish this rally and score some points at the beginning of the season. The conditions were a bit more consistent than the typical conditions for Rallye Monte-Carlo and when the grip level was high like on Friday, I could feel I was getting more confident and comfortable in the car. Saturday was trickier for me, as there was more cutting and more dirt on the road. Where you needed to take risks, I was maybe taking it a bit too easy. This is an area where I still need to improve but I learned many things. On Sunday I wanted to push in the final stage but something happened and we had an impact with a rock face. Thankfully we could finish and hopefully when I have a similar opportunity next time, I can push all the way to the end.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I gave everything I could this weekend and while we would have preferred to be much more in the fight for victory, it is still a good start into a new season, especially compared to last year. The speed was not that great, but it also wasn’t too bad, so there’s no need to be too alarmed. We had more tyre wear that the others and even taking risks we weren’t in a position to match the lead times. We had to be clever, which we were, and we kept the car on the road. In the end, it’s great to be back on the podium in Monte-Carlo. Sweden will be an entirely different type of event and we should be in the game.”

Dani Sordo

“Honestly, this weekend has not been to our standards or expectations. We had a lot of problems with the hybrid yesterday, and again on today’s final stages. I know the team has done all it can to give me a car to perform better. It’s disappointing to have the problems, but we have tackled things well as a team and can look forward with some encouragement. I have enjoyed myself a bit more today and the times have also been better considering the issues – that’s a positive, at least.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We have gathered important mileage this weekend and made some steps forward. On tarmac, you need to be smart if you want to make the times faster. You must get the indication from the car that you can drive it faster. I think we did just that this weekend. We saw we were not on the pace, so we slowly developed ourselves and made some progress. We are now much better prepared for Croatia, the next tarmac event. There are just small details we need to work on to be as fast as we want to be. This is the trickiest thing because the level is so high, you need perfection to match the top times.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“Generally, it was a good weekend, we have learnt plenty and got some good mileage as well. There are things we need to improve, and just look to be more consistent and gain some speed. The Power Stage definitely shows that it could be possible to be competitive in this car, but we need to find a better balance so we can drive fast.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I think the pace during the rally was strong, even on Sunday morning after restarting. We have shown that we have the pace to keep up with the guys at the front, so we have to keep that confidence and not give up.

“From my side, the car was fantastic to drive. On dry Tarmac in Monte-Carlo, the car is incredible and it felt really good. There are some points for improvement, but in general it was a great experience. I think the pace is better than last year, we have seen some progress and we can look to fight for a podium on gravel later in the year.”

Summary

Well, it was an odd Rallye Monte Carlo for sure. The lack of ice and snow on the roads certainly made for a more predictable rally. Pirelli brought the usual four types of tyres, but the snow and studded tyres were not used at all. Of course the guy with the most experience came through and took the victory and I suspect this was the case due the amount or should I say the lack of tyres available to the crews. I’d say that without the puncture for Elfyn, he’d have been in the fight for second place with his young teammate. It was not a surprise to see Thierry on the podium. He’s won this rally in the past and shown good pace over the years as well in this event.

In WRC2 there was late drama as Nikolay Gryazin was given a five second penalty and as he only led by 4.5 seconds at the end of the rally, Yohan Rossel took the win accordingly. The Skoda driver gained this penalty after being penalised for cutting a corner in stage 14 at the end of Saturday.

The next event is Rally Sweden which is held from the 9^th to the 12^th of February. My preview will be published shortly.