Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak both crashed on Friday morning (local time). Last year’s champion was the first to fall foul to the slippery conditions, missing a hairpin turn.
He buried his Hyundai i20 N in an embankment and damaged the left rear wheel. He finished SS6 nearly two minutes off the pace of stage winner Adrien Fourmaux.
On the same stage, Tanak shaved the rear off his car after he slid off the road and went into a tree. Despite tearing the rear hatch from the car, it was swiftly repaired.
Tanak barely lost any time and by the end of SS9 he was still in reach of the leaders at a 47.3-second deficit.
The same couldn’t be said for Neuville, however. He ended the day 3:58.6s away from rally leader Ogier having begun the day with a two-second lead.
The Belgian was looking at a two-minute deficit but suffered a puncture on the last stage that blew the gap out.
“Today was a day to forget,” said Neuville.
“I made a mistake this morning and misjudged the braking with these studded tyres.
“The target this afternoon was to see if we could gain back a bit of time this afternoon, maybe a position or two, and then unfortunately we had a puncture three kilometres into the same stage.
“We don’t know these tyres very well, but we decided to continue with the puncture and the tyre went in a braking zone.
“I am disappointed with the one mistake this morning, but a puncture can happen to anybody.
“We made some changes overnight for the day and I couldn’t find the confidence I needed all day.
“We’ll go back to the setup we used Thursday evening and see if we feel more comfortable.”
Never give up 💪@OttTanak / Martin Järveoja @HMSGOfficial #WRC | #RallyeMonteCarlo 🇲🇨 pic.twitter.com/I1fBfQGgOp
— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) January 24, 2025
After SS9, Ogier leads his Toyota teammate Sebastien Ogier. Hyundai’s Fourmaux is third and just 14.2 seconds off the lead.
After a tricky first day, Kalle Rovanpera wound up fourth and 38.5 seconds away.
“It’s been a positive day, turning a 13-second deficit into a 12-second lead, but not everything has been perfect,” said Ogier.
“I was struggling to find a rhythm in the morning and also in the first stage this afternoon, when I was not really driving close enough to the limit.
“I’m glad I managed to find that for the last two stages, and especially that I managed to win my home stage with a lot of family and friends watching.
“But we can’t relax yet, there’s still a long way to go and we have to continue in this way tomorrow.”
Two days remain in Rally Monte-Carlo. Saturday will take in 120km across six stages.
