Monte Carlo WRC: Neuville, Evans share Saturday morning stage wins
Thierry Neuville stormed clear of Sebastien Ogier on Saturday's first two Monte Carlo Rally stages and re-established a one-minute lead.
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Neuville's advantage had dwindled from 1m12s to 45s over the final part of Friday's second loop but he was emphatically back on the pace in the morning and started the day with a stage win.
Though Neuville was only second-quickest to surprise pacesetter Elfyn Evans on SS10, Ogier lost time being too cautious on the stage's icy sections.
With the reigning World Rally champion only sixth quickest on La Batie Montsaleon - Faye, he is now 1m00.7s behind Neuville's Hyundai.
Ogier had comfortably outpaced M-Sport team-mate Ott Tanak on Saturday's opener, immediately turning their 0.3s overnight gap into a 17s advantage.
But Tanak fared better on SS10 and brought his deficit back down to 11s.
The pace of Evans and the DMACK tyres was the other big story of the morning after a terrible Friday.
The combination of less ice on the stages and longer sections of dry asphalt to ensure the tyres were fully up to temperature by the time they reached the ice allowed Evans to go third-quickest on SS9 and then win SS10.
That was in stark contrast to the Friday stages where he had been losing over two minutes to the leaders at times, and brought him within range of WRC2 leader Andreas Mikkelsen for seventh overall.
Though unhappy with his Toyota on the morning stages, Jari-Matti Latvala remains a secure fourth.
In his wake, Dani Sordo and Craig Breen continue to swap fifth place on every stage.
Sordo had no confidence on SS9's ice and fell behind, but then surged on the mostly dry roads of SS10 and moved back in front.
He was helped by an unusual problem for Breen: a broken telephone meant he was unable to get information on conditions from Citroen's ice note crew.
His team-mate Kris Meeke rejoined under Rally2 after his Friday crash but stopped again on Saturday's second stage with a mechanical problem.
Standings after SS10:
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Thierry Neuville |
Hyundai | 2h38m43.7s |
| 2 |  Sebastien Ogier |
Ford | +1m00.7s |
| 3 |  Ott Tanak |
Ford | +1m12.0s |
| 4 |  Jari-Matti Latvala |
Toyota | +2m50.9s |
| 5 |  Dani Sordo |
Hyundai | +3m26.5s |
| 6 |  Craig Breen |
Citroen | +3m38.5s |
| 7 |  Andreas Mikkelsen |
Skoda | +7m49.7s |
| 8 |  Elfyn Evans |
Ford | +8m16.9s |
| 9 |  Jan Kopecky |
Skoda | +10m32.8s |
| 10 |  Pontus Tidemand |
Skoda | +11m32.7s |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Toyota selects Ogier for WRC’s visit to Croatia
Ogier proud of WRC Monte display after “rollercoaster of emotions”
Why Loeb v Ogier duel gave the WRC's new hybrid era the ideal start
Hyundai enacts contingency plan after WRC Kenya fuel issue
Hyundai to mark Breen anniversary with tribute livery, charity auction support
How Hyundai is shaping up to dethrone Toyota as WRC's conqueror
How real-time scrutineering ensures fair and consistent competition in motorsport
The day Button scored his 'best F1 win'... until next time!
New compound to thwart Porsche’s inspired Long Beach ‘no tires’ call
Surging Chase Briscoe says a win "is right around the corner"
How Rovanpera showed his class above his WRC rivals in Kenya
How a new 'old' challenge is capturing the spirit of British rallying lore
How Lappi survived Swedish snow carnage to snap his lengthy WRC drought
The new WRC highs Neuville reached to defeat Monte master Ogier
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments