Leg report
WRC Rally Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo WRC: Evans leads on Toyota debut
Toyota debutant Elfyn Evans seized the Monte Carlo Rally lead from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville after dominating Friday morning’s loop of stages, while reigning World Rally champion Ott Tanak crashed out.
Graham Keilloh
Edited: Jan 24, 2020, 10:02 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Evans topped all three of the morning’s stages in his Yaris, to establish a lead of 8.9 seconds over Neuville.
Evans took the overall lead from the 2019 runner-up on the day’s second stage, having on the opening Curbans - Venterol test slashed Neuville’s overnight lead to just 5.4s, and jumped to second place overall, with a mark 20s quicker than Neuville’s.
Neuville had to restart during the stage at an icy left-hander, and said he struggled with his tyres in the slippery conditions.
Evans then on the 12.8-mile Saint-Clement-sur-Durance - Freissinieres stage set a time 8.8s quicker than Neuville’s to take a lead of 3.4s. And he completed his dominance of the morning’s loop by extending his lead over second-placed Neuville with another fastest time on the Bayons - Breziers SS5.
Six-time WRC Monte Carlo Rally winner Sebastien Ogier, also making his Toyota debut, closed in on the lead over the morning too and sits third overall, 9.7s off teammate Evans and less than a second behind Neuville. Ogier stated he was still learning the car, particularly over bumps.
Neuville’s overnight advantage after the opening pair of Thursday-night stages had been 19.1s over Ogier and 25.4s over Evans.
Tanak crashed out spectacularly on his Hyundai debut, leaving the road at high speed exiting a right-left kink at around the halfway mark of the morning’s second stage. His i20 Coupe WRC then fell down a drop and entered a lengthy barrel roll.
Both Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja looked unharmed as they exited the car unaided. Tanak was placed fourth overall at the time, 10.3s behind then-leader Neuville.
Tanak also had a brief SS3 spin at the same point at which Neuville had his problem, and where M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith was then stranded on the stage after his own spin, ending up with the rear of his Fiesta stuck in a ditch.
Seven-time Monte Carlo Rally winner Sebastien Loeb ended the morning fourth overall, 48.4s off the top, having been 51s down overnight. He complained throughout of dirt pulled onto the road from cars ahead, though he managed on the opening stage to set the second-fastest time, just 2.1s off Evans’ pace.
Greensmith’s off combined with Teemu Suninen’s woes yesterday have left Esapekka Lappi as the only serious M-Sport contender on his debut with the team. He ended the morning fifth some 1m29.9s off the top and bemoaning his lack of pace.
He is 24.6s clear of Toyota’s rookie Kalle Rovanpera in sixth, while Rovanpera’s teammate Takamoto Katsuta climbed to seventh overall across the morning but is over two minutes shy of sixth.
Eric Camilli in his Citroen C3 is eighth and the first of the WRC3 runners. WRC2 leader Ole Christian Veiby in his Hyundai and WRC3’s Nicolas Ciamin in his Citroen compete the top 10.
One-time Formula 1 driver and Le Mans Series champion Stephane Sarrazin in his Hyundai had been challenging Camilli for the WRC3 lead but lost over two minutes after stopping on the morning’s final stage.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Monte Carlo WRC: Neuville outshines Tanak and Ogier
Next article Monte Carlo WRC: Ogier grabs lead from Evans
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Graham Keilloh
Monte Carlo WRC: Ogier grabs lead from Evans
WRC
WRC
Rally Monte Carlo
Jan 24, 2020
Monte Carlo WRC: Ogier grabs lead from Evans
Chile WRC: Tanak ends Friday stages in command
WRC
WRC
Rally Chile
May 11, 2019
Chile WRC: Tanak ends Friday stages in command
Chile WRC: Tanak leads Ogier after tough first morning
WRC
WRC
Rally Chile
May 10, 2019
Chile WRC: Tanak leads Ogier after tough first morning
More from
Sébastien Ogier
Sebastien Ogier tipped for partial WRC 2027 programme
WRC
WRC 8 d
Sebastien Ogier tipped for partial WRC 2027 programme
Sebastien Ogier’s 2027 WRC future is undecided, but he won’t be at Monte Carlo
WRC
WRC
Rally Italy
1 mo
Sebastien Ogier’s 2027 WRC future is undecided, but he won’t be at Monte Carlo
More from
Toyota Racing
The new records set by Toyota's Hypercar trio with WEC 2026 title
WEC
WEC
Monza
2 d
The new records set by Toyota's Hypercar trio with WEC 2026 title
Toyota “sad” WEC drivers' title was effectively decided before Monza finale
WEC
WEC
Monza
3 d
Toyota “sad” WEC drivers' title was effectively decided before Monza finale
Latest news
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
4 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 8 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe