2023 Rallye Monte-Carlo: Ogier remains ahead after Rovanpera attack
22nd January 2023Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier remained ahead of the pack, on day three, despite a charge from the second-placed – reigning world champion and teammate – Kalle Rovanpera.
On Saturday, the format remained similar to Friday with a loop of three stages; Le Fugeret/Thorame, Malijai/Puimichel and Ubraye/Entrevaux forcing the drivers to race a total distance of 111.78km.
In a bid to get his title-defence underway, Rovanpera put in a charge on Saturday to fight Ogier for the win. As such, the Finn won the opening stage of the third day of running to mark a milestone of 100 stage wins for himself and his co-driver, Jonne Halttunen.
In the charge, it showcased Toyota’s blistering form after the team secured 11 of 14 stage wins, overall, across the weekend by the end of the third day.
Despite only securing one stage win across Saturday’s six stages, Ogier still put in enough to keep the charging Finn behind him. By the end of Saturday, the eight-time world champion remained 16 seconds ahead of Rovanpera with four more stages to go, on Sunday.
In the battle for third between former Hyundai teammates, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Ott Tanak (M-Sport Ford), the Belgian managed to put that fight to bed.
With two stage wins to his name on Saturday, on SS12 and SS13, it meant the Belgian solidified his third-place ahead of Tanak who had dropped down to P5 at the end of the day, overtaken by Toyota’s Elfyn Evans – in fourth.
In addition, Neuville’s stage wins also forced Rovanpera to take action as the Belgian looked to threaten the defending world champion for second place.
By the end of the second day of running, Neuville remained in third place and established a 24.5-second gap over Evans who was gaining ground after his puncture on Friday, but the Hyundai driver remained 16-seconds behind Rovanpera.
M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet’s Rallye Monte-Carlo went from bad to worse for the Frenchman after he oversteered onto the penultimate corner of opening stage of the day and collided the rear of his Puma Rally1 with the barrier. Loubet was able to continue on to the finish line of the stage with minimal damage to his bumper.
The Frenchman was pushing hard after he bled time on Friday, due to a loss of power steering, in a bid to climb back up the order. As a result of the contact, Loubet suffered heavy damage to his suspension and crashed into the retirement list.
In a similar instance to Loubet before him, Tanak reported a loss of power steering 3km into the 10th stage and by the end it had completely gone. Despite the issue, Tanak managed to maintain his fifth-place by the end of Saturday’s loop.
Top 3 after Day 3:
- Sebastien Ogier, Toyota
- Kalle Rovanpera, Toyota
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai
That’s all for the article; 2023 Rallye Monte-Carlo: Ogier remains ahead after Rovanpera attack!
What did you think of the action on Saturday? Let us know in the comments!
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