Ogier mistake hands Neuville Monte lead

Nine-time winner led after two stages but a hairy moment on the third cost him over 15 seconds

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Thierry Neuville leads the way after the opening three stages of the Monte Carlo Rally, the first event of the 2025 World Rally Championship season.

The reigning world champion holds a 2.0-second advantage over Elfyn Evans after early leader Sébastien Ogier dropped time with a half-spin on the third stage.

Seeking a record-extending 10th win on the iconic rally, Ogier set the pace through the opening two stages of the 33-mile leg run under darkness in front of banks packed with spectators amid a party atmosphere of bonfires, fireworks and flares.

But a 5s advantage was flipped into 12.8s deficit after Ogier’s Toyota GR Yaris slid on the muddy surface and hit a fence. That flicked the car back onto the road but Ogier was forced to back up before continuing.

“A lot of mud on the road and we got surprised – we hit a pole sideways,” Ogier reported, admitting: “For sure, it’s always lucky to get away with that.”

Mud on the road was making conditions tricky throughout on otherwise relatively dry stages, albeit with plenty of damp patches and some ice starting to form in places. A lack of experience on the new Hankook tires only exacerbated the struggle to find grip.

Third on the opening stage, Neuville went second fastest on the second and third tests, despite reckoning he was “cleaning the road” of loose gravel on SS3 Avançon – Notre-Dame-du-Laus. “First time in these conditions for me with these tires, so I was just trying to discover,” he said. “Not easy to be honest, and I don’t know where the grip will change, how the grip will be.”

But, before he knew of Ogier’s mistake, he was happy just to make it through the stages. “We are here so I’m happy with my first day,” he added.

Evans was second only to Ogier on the opener, and fastest of all through SS3 by 5.4s, but dropped time on SS2 Faucon-du-Caire – Bréziers, the longest of the loop, when he lost confidence. “I found it difficult, difficult to read the grip,” the Toyota driver admitted. “It seemed like there was a layer of mud or dirt on the road in so many places.”

Behind Ogier, the second and third Hyundais of Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux lie fourth and fifth overall, separated by 3s but with Tänak some 14.2s down on third-placed Ogier.

Tänak reported no problems with his i20 N but was finding the going tough, perhaps being more cautious in the lower-grip sections. “It’s super tricky conditions, so many surprises,” he said. “We tried our best, but yeah, it’s tricky.”

Fourmaux dropped time as more ice formed on the final stage, having been just 0.2s down on Evans after SS2, one that he particularly enjoyed. “It was incredible!” grinned the team’s new signing. “The speed at the beginning of the stage is just massive – mega. Really, really tricky at the end with the mud, etc. That was quite sketchy. The ice is also coming some places, so… what a stage! This is a proper Monte Carlo stage.”

Languishing in sixth overall, 43.9s off the ultimate pace, is Kalle Rovanperä. On his return to full-time competition, the two-time world champion was comfortable with a loss of 15.6s to team-mate Ogier on the opening stage, noting that – unlike the others – this was his first time tackling it, “and when the first pass is in dark it’s never easy”.

But Rovanperä was at a loss to explain a 22.9s deficit through the 13.2 miles of SS2, admitting: “The times are s***. Really hard to say [why], to be honest. Driving on the clear parts is fine, but in the mud there is just no speed.” A slightly better run netted him the third fastest time through the evening’s final test but Rovanperä admitted he needed “to look into it what we can do more”.

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M-Sport’s Grégoire Munster is seventh, another 4.9s back, following decent runs through SS2 and SS3 – where he went fourth quickest – after shipping 26.5s on the opener. “With our road position we can be happy with the fourth fastest time. I really like these conditions, but I already don’t have much hair, if I lose them with this stress it’s not good!” he laughed.

A subdued Takamoto Katsuta lies eighth, a further 4.5s down, reporting an unspecified issue with the car. He is half a minute ahead of Toyota team-mate Sami Pajari who admitted to being “too careful” in places.

M-Sport new boy Josh McErlean completes the Rally1 field on his first outing at the top level. He said: “From lining up in Casino Square to launching this beast into darkness, it’s been a lot of excitement, nerves, and hopefully we can build from here.”

Among the Rally2 runners, Nikolay Gryazin leads the way in his Škoda Fabia RS. He is 7.2s clear of local expert Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3) who tops the order among those registered for WRC2 points at this event.

Oliver Solberg, another who is not registered for points on this round, saw his chances evaporate with an off on the first stage which forced him to change a wheel and contend with a damaged damper for the remainder of the loop. On his first WRC outing in the Toyota GR Yaris, he is now more than five minutes down on Gryazin’s pace.

Only those three Rally2 cars were able to complete the route after the third stage was red-flagged and not restarted for spectator safety reasons. The rest will receive nominal times, leaving Gus Greensmith’s Škoda (also not scoring points) in third, half a minute back.

Greensmith is 3.3s ahead of Rossel’s younger brother Léo, who completes a family 1-2 in the WRC2 scoring positions.

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