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World Rally Championship
WRC Rally Monte Carlo 2021
Posted by WRC - 21/01/21 08:24PM - 0 Comments - WRC - 1/52/53/54/55/5

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Game on for the 2021 season of the World Rally Championship (WRC) and the 110th anniversary of the Monte-Carlo Rally, behind closed doors! Fittingly enough, the best time in the first stage came from 2019 World Champion Ott Tänak (Hyundai), a good way for him to start forgetting about his huge crash last year, on Friday, at the beginning of the 2020 edition. Between Saint-Disdier and Corps, in the very heart of the Dévoluy mountains, Tänak took 12 minutes and 5 seconds to complete the 20.58km of Special Stage 01. He created a 3-second gap on the three top Toyota drivers, grouped in one second only: young star Kalle Rovanpera finished ahead of vice-champion Elfyn Evans and 7-time champion Sébastien Ogier. The last spot in the Top 5 of this first stage was taken by Belgian Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville. And the first big crash of this Monte eliminated Finnish M-Sport driver Teemu Suninen, whose Ford Fiesta rolled before falling on the side of the road, with no harm for the crew.

As in Stage 1 for the first timed section of this first WRC event of the year, World Champion 2019, Ott Tänak, was faster in SS2, an hour later, between Saint-Maurice and Saint-Bonnet. Over 20.78km of this varied and tricky stage, Tänak’s time of 12 :11.8 was only three tenths of a second better than the result of the youngest of the Toyota drivers, Finnish revelation of last year Kalle Rovanperä. The 20-year-old, once again, finished ahead of vice-World Champion Elfyn Evans, but this time with a 5-second gap, while 7-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier remained cautious because of a small brake pedal problem which had appeared in Stage 1. This allowed Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), and his new co-driver, to set a better time than Ogier. The good surprise came from young Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet, in the Top 6 of this stage for his very first participation to the 110-year-old rally classic. The overall table is a logical consequence of the afternoon events, with Tänak ahead and ready to defend his position early on Friday morning. He holds a 3-second advantage on Rovanperä, 8 seconds on Evans, 16 on Neuville et Ogier, grouped in less than one second. Five stages are scheduled on Friday, from 6 am onwards.



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