Neuville wins thrilling Rallye Monte Carlo
Thierry Neuville has overcome Sebastien Ogier to win a nail-biting Rallye Monte Carlo and open the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship in style.
Hyundai’s Neuville and Toyota’s Ogier went head to head winning 14 of the 17 stages that made up the 92nd running of the famous rally.
Heading into the final day just 3.3s separated the pair and the Belgian rose to the occasion when the victory was up for grabs.
Neuville won all three stages on the closing Sunday to secure a 16.1 win over nine-time Rallye Monte Carlo winner Ogier.
It was clear it meant a lot to him.
“I don’t have the words, to be honest,” he said.
“It was just so great this weekend, I felt so comfortable in the car.
“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.”
Elfyn Evans got off to a fast start winning the first two stages and held the lead all the way until stage 10 when Neuville edged ahead by nine tenths as a hybrid unit problem started to hinder the Brit.
However, Ogier was also on the charge and his sixth stage win of the rally promoted him to the rally lead for the first time during a change that also included his 700th stage win.
But Neuville immediately hit back to wrestle back the lead by winning the 14th and final stage of the penultimate day.
Having overcome early engine issues and a close call with a snowbank on stage 3, Neuville had the momentum and carried it into the deciding final day.
The Belgian was unstoppable in his upgraded i20 N and sealed the win with a 2.6s triumph over Ogier in the Power Stage.
Evans ended up third in the Toyota, 45.2s off the pace ahead of Ott Tanak, who finished fourth in his comeback for fourth.
Under the new points system Neuville collected a maximum 30-point hail and leads the championship by six over Ogier and nine over Evans.
In WRC2 Yohan Rossel won by 4.9s in a Citroen over Skoda’s Pepe Lopez after the lead changed seven times.
Next up is Rally Sweden in the snow on February 15-18.
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
2024 Rallye Monte Carlo results
| Position | No. | Driver | Co-driver | Entrant | Car | Time | Difference | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Class | SAT | SUN | WPS | Total | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 11 | Thierry Neuville | Martijn Wydaeghe | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | 3:09:30.9 | 0.0 | 18 | 7 | 5 | 30 |
| 2 | 2 | 17 | Sébastien Ogier | Vincent Landais | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 3:09:47.0 | +16.1 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 24 |
| 3 | 3 | 33 | Elfyn Evans | Scott Martin | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 3:10:16.1 | +45.2 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 21 |
| 4 | 4 | 8 | Ott Tänak | Martin Järveoja | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | 3:11:30.7 | +1:59.8 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
| 5 | 5 | 16 | Adrien Fourmaux | Alexandre Coria | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | 3:13:07.8 | +3:36.9 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
| 6 | 6 | 9 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Torstein Eriksen | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | 3:15:05.5 | +5:34.6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 | 7 | 18 | Takamoto Katsuta | Aaron Johnston | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 3:17:59.4 | +8:58.5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 8 | 20 | 13 | Grégoire Munster | Louis Louka | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | 3:44:10.9 | +34:40.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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