WRC 2022 Rallye Monte-Carlo: Day One
20th January 2022Feature Image credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Toyota’s Sebastian Ogier topped the timing boards as the 2022 World Rally Championship got underway in Monte-Carlo!
How it unfolded…
Stage one: Luceram / Lantosque
Ogier got the Monte-Carlo rally officially underway under the darkness of night. As the Frenchman roared through the night, his teammate, Elfyn Evans – and 2021 WRC champion runner up – got underway on the soft compound shortly afterwards, but seemed to have bogged down slightly on the start.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville opted for an entirely different strategy on the opening stage as he opted for a cross-over pattern with his tyre choice; softs on the front left and rear right, super softs on the rear left and front right.
As Evans passed the first sector split, after Ogier, it was revealed the British rally driver was 1.5 seconds slower than his teammate.
Naturally, Ogier was the first driver to safely cross the finish line to end the first competitive stage of the 2022 season. The benchmark to beat? 10 minutes an 34 seconds. Evans finished shortly afterwards, 9.3 seconds slower than Ogier.
Despite Neuville’s best attempts, the Belgian could only manage to finish the stage 15.9 seconds slower than the leading Frenchman. At this point, Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera, Hyundai’s Ott Tanak and M-Sport Ford’s Craig Breen were the only drivers on the stage.
Despite finishing in a provisional fifth place spot – before dropping down to 10th – Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta complained of problems during the opening stage.
Although Ford’s Sebastian Loeb took a year out of the sport, the French nine-time WRC champion showcased that talent is permanent as the Ford driver pulled out an impressive run to finish the opening stage in second place, 5.4 seconds behind Ogier.
Stage two: La Bollene Vesubie – Moulinet
In the second stage of the night, Ogier topped the timing boards once again with an impressive time of 15:14.4, with Loeb coming in close once again – only lost the top spot by 1.3 seconds.
Evans was able to maintain a third place position across the first day of running as he finished close behind Loeb and Ogier. The British driver found himself off the pace by only 1.9 seconds.
This means Ogier tops the timing boards on the first day with a total of 25:48.4, followed closely by Loeb and Evans, respectively.
After only coming in sixth in the first stage, Ford’s Adrian Fourmaux pulled some of their lost time back in the second stage as they only finished 17.9 seconds off the pace of Ogier. This meant the French rally driver was able to climb from sixth to fourth in the overall standings with a total time of 26:06.3.
On the other hand, Rovanpera – who drives the Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally1 car – has pace to find as he was overtaken, in the overall elapsed time, by WRC 2 contender Eric Camilli. The Finnish Toyota driver currently sits 2.6 seconds behind the Citeron C3 Rally2 car.
That’s all for the article: WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo: Day One! What did you think of the opening night of the 2022 championship? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.