Elfyn Evans has only a narrow lead after the first day of the Monza Rally, but Sebastien Ogier is still on course for the eighth FIA World Rally Championship title after an intense duel between the Toyota team-mates.
The seven-time and reigning champion Ogier entered the WRC final with a 17 point lead over Evans. With a maximum of 30 Welsh available in Italy, Evans knows his best chance to overtake Ogier is to do whatever it takes to win and hope the 37-year-old Frenchman has an all too rare weekend.
On the morning lap of four special stages in the Bergamese Alps, north of Milan, that looked unlikely. Evans was 0.1 seconds ahead of his Yaris WRC colleague on stage two, but Ogier was fastest on the other three stages, with a 6.5 second lead over the three stages on the legendary Monza F1 circuit, the would end the day.
Satisfied with letting his team-mate take the lead, Ogier stayed on course for the title in second. Image courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
That was when the momentum began to shift. Fastest for Evans on special stage 5, Cinturato 1, plus braking problems for Ogier – « basically the car stayed on the brakes for the entire stage, » he remarked – left Evans just 0.8 seconds behind the lead.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was fastest on special stage 6, Cinturato 2, but Evans’ second fastest time was a full 2.1 seconds better than Ogier’s run and took him to the top with 1.3 seconds.
On the last stage of the day , a 6.39-mile blast in the dark that used much of the F1 track, as well as Monza’s historic corners and some deceptively difficult gravel roads, Evans was only third fastest, but decisively 0.1s faster than Ogier on the day with 1 To end a 4 second lead.
Although Ogier looks relatively comfortable in second place overall and well before the battle for third place, the title dynamic remains with the reigning champion. But Evans knows he’s doing everything possible to keep his chances.
« Today was okay, » said Evans. “The last stage wasn’t so nice to get into the chicanes in the dark with cold tires. Overall, it was a good performance on the track, so I’m very happy, but we still have a lot to do for tomorrow’s mountain stages. ”
After the intensity of the duel on the first day, Ogier didn’t sound like a driver who was up would take maximum risk on the six special stages of the second day and 67.56 competition miles. Nonetheless, he knows that there is still a long way to go and there is no room for complacency as he seeks to end his full-time WRC driving career with an eighth title in nine years.
« I can with this day be satisfied, ”said the WRC legend, who decided to only take part in selected events in 2022. “It was a good drive in the mountains this morning, followed by some small problems this afternoon, so let’s see what our level is tomorrow.”
A little behind the pure Toyota Gazoo Racing fight, which is at the top of the timesheet raged, the factory Hyundai duo Neuville and Dani Sordo fought their own duel for the final podium. In Neuville’s penultimate stage win, Sordo set the fastest time on the last stage in his i20 WRC Coupé, with the couple only 3 seconds apart at the end of the day. But with Ogier 20.2 seconds behind third-placed Neuville, it is unlikely that both of them will interfere in the battle for the overall lead.
« I’m happy with our performance in the car, but we struggled with the performance from the car itself, ”said Neuville, perplexed, who came to Monza after winning the last time on the tarmac of the Rally Spain. « The feeling is there, so it is difficult to know where more speed can come from. »
Neuville led the Hyundai line-up, but was far from the pace of the Toyotas. Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content-Pool
Oliver Solberg is fifth overall in a satellite 2C Competition Hyundai and has thus gained a solid day of experience in order to move up to a part-time factory seat in 2022. The 20-year-old is 14.9 seconds ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta. who impressed on the stages in Monza and narrowly missed the best time in the last test of the day.
Gus Greensmith is seventh in the remaining Fiesta WRC of M-Sport after team-mate Adrien Fourmaux came onto the market on special stage 3, while Teemu Suninen was eighth in the third works Hyundai.
Suninen was a late replacement for Ott Tanak, who missed Monza for family reasons and is still catching up to learn the car. Nonetheless, he’s the top-ranked Finn thanks to Kalle Rovanpera, who sails to a subdued ninth place as he plays the insurance role in Toyota’s pursuit of the Manufacturers’ title – a formality when you consider a plant that finished seventh in the Yaris WRCs would Sealing the deal.
In the fight for the WRC2 honors, the newly crowned champion Andreas Mikkelsen is in rematch mode after a tire damage on a gravel section of the second Monza stage. The Toksport WRT Skoda driver is 1m34.7s behind the class leader and teammate Marco Bulacia, but does not give up on closing the gap in the mountain stages of the second day.
« It was a bit up and down, » said Mikkelsen. “Usually a good day, but the puncture was a real shame. I don’t even know how it happened because we definitely didn’t hit anything. We’ll keep pushing and see what can happen. ”
A tire damage hampered WRC2 Champion Andreas Mikkelsen on the first day. Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content-Pool
After four morning stages in the Bergamesken Alps, the second stage ends on Saturday with two more stages in Monza. Everything still has to be played in the fight for the overall WRC driver title, it promises to be one of the most important days of the season.
1 Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (Toyota Yaris WRC) 1h04m05.2s
2 Sebastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Toyota Yaris WRC) 1.4s
3 Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 21.6s
4 Dani Sordo / Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 24.6s
5 Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 50.6s
6 Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston (Toyota Yaris WRC) 1m05.5s
7 Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson (M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC) 1m14.1s
8 Teemu Suninen / Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 1m28.6s
9 Kalle Rovanpera / Jonne Haltunnen (Toyota Yaris WRC) 1m57.3s
10 Yohan Rossel / Jacques-Julien Renucci (Citroen C3) 4m21.3s
Visit WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC subscription to see all stages of each rally live and on-demand anytime, anywhere.
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