WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo 2025: Winners and Losers

WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo 2025: Winners and Losers

27th January 2025 0 By Kamron Kent

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier took home his 10th Rallye Monte Carlo as the World Rally Championship officially got underway, but what were the event’s winners and losers? 

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool

Winner: Sebastien Ogier

After a near-moment on stage three, where Ogier ran wide and had to pin the throttle to get his Yaris out of trouble, the eight-time world champion looked to be untouchable once he regained the rally lead on Friday. 

The Monte Master struck once again amongst the French Alps as the eight-time world champion went on to secure his 10th Monte-Carlo victory. 

Loser: Thierry Neuville

On debut, as Hyundai’s defending champions, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe wouldn’t have dreamt their first outings would be like this in 2025. 

A crash at the same corner, on SS6 and SS9, prompting fans to name the corner as his own on Google Maps, ultimately put the nail in the coffin for a good result. 

Winner: Adrien Fourmaux

Newcomer to Hyundai, and partnered up alongside the now-defending world champions, it wouldn’t have been unsurprising to see Fourmaux take a round to bed in with his new team in the real-life competition. 

Nope. Fourmaux was in the mix for the podium and out-paced his two world-champion teammates Ott Tanak and Neuville. As such, the newcomer is the team’s leading driver in the championship, after a single round. An incredible start with a new team. 

Loser: Sami Pajari

Sami Pajari kept himself out of trouble for the majority of the rally, keeping himself to himself. However, the Finnish driver ended his first full-time Rally1 round with a DNF.

The Finnish driver was seventh in the overall standings – ahead of Neuville – when he outbroke himself at a bridge, on SS16, and quickly went into a ravine. It’s a shame, and it will no doubt put a bitter taste in his mouth on what was a decent first round for the Finn. 

Winner: Ott Tanak

In parts of the weekend, Tanak was flying! He was in early contention for a podium but this never came to fruition, not helped by losing the rear-bodywork of his Hyundai after running through a ditch on SS6.

Despite this, Tanak bounced back on Saturday and took home four stage wins on the day with his most impressive run coming at SS14 when he nearly beat the field with more than 10 seconds in hand. Only Ogier remained nine seconds behind his time on that stage.

Loser: Gregoire Munster

Gregoire Munster had a mixed weekend with M-Sport Ford. As the new team leader, the Luxembourg driver put on an impressive show on Friday and he was certainly one of the fastest drivers of the weekend. 

Taking home his first-ever stage win would be the height of his weekend, on Saturday, but this will be mixed in with a puncture on the final stage, on Friday and crashing out on the penultimate stage on Sunday afternoon. A pure Monte-Carlo rollercoaster for the Luxembourg driver. 

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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.

CategoryNews Opinion Rallying WRC

About the author

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.

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