Thierry Neuville celebrated his 20th world rally win at Rallye Monte-Carlo on Sunday afternoon, banking a perfect score of 30 points alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe.
“The whole team was doing an amazing job and I think the whole package was working really well. There are always things to improve so of course we need to continue working, but we are very happy to win this rally,” he added.
Ogier led for a single stage on Saturday afternoon, but the Frenchman could not repel Neuville despite his best efforts. “It’s been a nice battle with Thierry. Well done to him, he has been really fast this weekend,” he admitted.
Evans held the upper hand after the first two legs but time ebbed away from him on Saturday, not helped by a hybrid unit problem. He eventually finished 29.1sec behind his team-mate Ogier.
Ott Tänak placed fourth on his first rally in Hyundai colours since 2022. Mystery engine problems hindered the 2019 world champion throughout the rally although a stage win on Saturday morning proved his potential with the i20 N car.
Adrien Fourmaux equalled his career-best result by finishing fifth overall in his M-Sport Ford Puma. Behind him was Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen, with Takamoto Katsuta almost three minutes further back after sliding off the road on Friday.
Yohan Rossel claimed the WRC2 victory with a last-gasp Wolf Power Stage push, climbing to eighth overall in the process. He passed Pepe López in the finale while Nikolay Gryazin rounded out the top 10.
Round two of the WRC takes place in on the snow and ice of Sweden. The series’ only pure winter fixture is based in Umeå on 15 – 18 February.
