Rallye Monte Carlo 2024: Evans clears opening day of WRC season
26th January 2024Toyota’s Elfyn Evans has cleared an impressive 15.1s gap over his closest rival after only two stages in the 2024 Rallye Monte-Carlo season opener.
Only two stages opened up the event and the season, Thoard – Saint-Geniez (SS1) and Bayons – Breziers (SS2). These were held north of Monaco, under the darkness of night, providing fans the opportunity to pump up the rallying atmosphere.
A total of 46.2km of action lined up the opening day, across the two stages.
Of these stages, Evans completed the clean sweep securing both stage wins. The Welshman completed the opening stage 5.2 seconds ahead of Hyundai’s returning Ott Tanak. The #33 extended this as he completed the following stage 6.8s ahead of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
In turn, this means Evans stood as the rally leader, Neuville and Monaco’s master Sebastien Ogier – whose in the hunt for a 10th Monte-Carlo win – completed the opening day in second and third.
Tanak, who had suffered mechanical problems with his Hyundai fell from second, in the first stage, to fourth in the overall standings 16 seconds ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux.
Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), Gregoire Munster (Ford) and Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) completed the Rally1 competitors in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Of the leading WRC2 drivers, Pepe Lopez in his Skoda Fabia completed the day ninth in the overall standings. Nikolay Gryazin, in his Citeron C3 Rally2, completed the top 10.
That’s all for the article; Rallye Monte Carlo 2024: Evans clears opening day of WRC season!
Read more WRC here:
- WRC: Where are they racing and when?
- Abiteboul takes up dual role as Hyundai Team Principal and President
- Toyota reveal striking new livery for their Rally1 Yaris
- Rovanpera takes part-time schedule for WRC 2024
- Central European Rally: Neuville leads inaugural opening day ahead of Tanak
- Tanak maintains 100% record in WRC Rally Chile as Toyota take title
Give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from the world of Motorsport! You can also support us on Patreon or on our website!
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.
