Fourmaux steals second from Evans in Monte

Fourmaux is now Ogier's closest chaser, while Munster claimed his first WRC stage win

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Adrien Fourmaux has overhauled Elfyn Evans for second place at the Monte Carlo Rally, as Sébastien Ogier continues to lead.

Evans began Saturday’s leg just 1.6 seconds ahead of Hyundai newbie Fourmaux, having led the rally at Friday lunchtime.

The pair set an identical time on Saturday’s opener, but Fourmaux turned the screw on the day’s second test, moving half a second clear of the Welshman after SS11.

Fourmaux was again quicker on SS12 to head back to service in Gap 2.8s ahead.

Evans admitted things were “more complicated than we expected this morning” with stage conditions dirtier than he’d anticipated.

Ogier’s rally lead stands at 17.2s; the eight-time champion, who’s chasing a 10th Monte Carlo Rally win, choosing to check his pace at times in stage conditions that were deteriorating.

But beating Fourmaux by 5.1s on the morning’s final stage was an important marker for Ogier to set.

“I try to manage the risk,” Ogier said, “and it’s never easy on Monte Carlo.”

Kalle Rovanperä remains fourth overall, but has Ott Tänak (who won SS11 by an impressive 6.9s) close for company just a second behind. The Hyundai had started the day 8.8 adrift of the Toyota.

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That was a proper stage! Takamoto Katsuta

An unwell-but-recovering Takamoto Katsuta is a lonely sixth overall, two minutes ahead of fellow Toyota driver Sami Pajari who struggled towards the end of SS12 in mud he felt had been left behind from spectators walking to their spot.

World champion Thierry Neuville had hoped to pass Pajari over the course of the day in his bid to recover ground after near-identical offs at the same corner on Friday, but he dropped a minute on SS10 when he stopped to reset his Hyundai.

“I lost power like in Japan, we thought the turbo was gone,” he said. “In the situation we were in, let’s try to do a reset and we were fine since.

“No idea, no alarm, nothing. Now it is working.”

Neuville is eighth overall.

Grégoire Munster had been in a battle with the two world champions but was forced to retire on the way back to service on Friday night with an electrical issue aboard his Ford Puma Rally1.

He did, however, come out swinging on Saturday’s opener, winning his first stage in the World Rally Championship.

“It’s great – thank you to the team,” Munster told DirtFish. “We’ve been working with them already a year and it’s a good reward also for the job they’ve done this evening repairing the car.

“But also for us it’s been many years we’ve been trying to achieve such things so it’s really nice. I wanted to stay with my feet on the ground for this one [SS11], not get caught off by the moment but for sure it feels really good.

“If you know you can do it, it changes a lot.”

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