TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver Oliver Solberg continues to lead Rallye Monte-Carlo ahead of team-mates Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier after arriving into Monaco on Saturday evening.
Car 99 (Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson)
Heavy snow on Friday night brought some of the most difficult conditions of the event so far on the day’s three mountain stages held around Gap.
Starting the day with a lead of 1m08.4s, Solberg conceded 17s of that advantage in the snow-covered first test – which was also the longest of the rally at 29.93 kilometres. However, he struck back in the next stage, outpacing Evans by 11.4s.
After service in Gap, the repeat pass of the La Bréole – Bellaffaire stage still brought tricky conditions even as the snow started to melt. Several drivers slid off, including Solberg himself, but he managed to find his way back to the road and still win the stage.
The day ended with a super special stage using part of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit – returning to the rally’s route for the first time since 2008. In very slippery conditions with heavy rain, Solberg made it around safely to finish the day with a lead of 59.3s.
Sébastien Ogier won the morning’s first stage to close to within 3s of Evans’ second place overall, but Evans was able to respond and the gap grew once more to 26s at the end of the day.
Takamoto Katsuta set a strong third-fastest time in the morning’s opening stage, and a second-fastest time on the Monaco super special, as he recovered up to ninth place following time lost with damage to the power steering system on Friday.
Sami Pajari was another of those to go off the road in SS12, running wide into the snow and hitting a tree, forcing him to stop. Having assessed the damage and determined that it cannot be fixed in the time available, the team has decided to retire the car from the rally.
TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto was another victim of the conditions in his GR Yaris Rally2, going wide into deep snow in SS10 and losing over five minutes, but he gained three places over the rest of the day to sit sixth in his class.
Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“We can be really satisfied to end another difficult day in this position overall. Our car has been working really well and our tyre choices have been good. Oliver continues to lead with what has been a sensational performance. We had a brief scare when he went off in SS12, but thankfully he could get back on the road without much damage. There’s still one day to go, and hopefully the top three can safely reach the finish line to secure what would be an amazing result. It was also magnificent to see this super special in Monaco in front of so many fans, even though the weather wasn’t so nice, and it was great to drive it myself to thrill some special guests with passenger rides.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been very tough again today. The first stage this morning was very icy with very low grip the whole way through, and the conditions in the second one were very inconsistent. The ice was melting in places come the afternoon, creating very slushy conditions, and it was difficult to control the car. The heavy rain also made the Monaco super special not as straightforward as it might have been, so I was happy to get through it. We’re still expecting more difficult conditions tomorrow, so the rally won’t be over until it’s over.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Today has been yet another challenging day, like every one has been on this rally. A lot of snow this morning, a lot of wet snow this afternoon which was close to undriveable from my perspective, and then heavy rain tonight in Monaco. I’m just happy to finish the day still with a podium position, and a lockout for the team for the moment. Now the plan is to try and secure this result tomorrow.”
Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It’s been another solid day. I think we had all the action and conditions possible again. Tried to make it a day of survival, but just touched the slush in SS12 and ended up in the ditch and somehow got it up into the field and back out again. I don’t know how I did it and went on to still win the stage, but you need a bit of luck sometimes. The super special was very cool but with all the rain I just backed off. It’s incredible to still be leading by around a minute, but there’s still one day to go and I’m sure it will be another hard day.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“We’ve had more very difficult conditions today, but I felt much better with the car. It was very icy in the morning and then it was melting and becoming slushy in the afternoon. Then a huge amount of rain in Monaco for the super special. That wasn’t easy, but it was amazing to see so many people watching us and it was really cool for me to drive here. We have one more day to go and we’ll try our best to keep catching up places; that’s our target.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It has not been the start to the season we wanted. From the first day already it went in a difficult way, and then we just wanted to get all the experience possible for the future. Unfortunately we made a mistake in SS10 and we got caught on the snowbank. The conditions were tricky and not many drivers got through that stage without issues, but I’m sorry for the team and the fans. Now we just need to focus on what we need to improve and keep our heads up and I’m sure we will do much better in Sweden.”
End of day Three (Saturday):
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 3h16m34.1s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +59.3s
3 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m25.3s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +6m02.9s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +7m23.0s
6 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +10m03.9s
7 Léo Rossel/Guillaume Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) +10m57.7s
8 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +11m29.3s
9 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +11m36.9s
10 Roberto Daprà/Luca Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +12m25.6s
Retired Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 21:00 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
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