Rallye Monte-Carlo: Day 2 Ogier out front in TOYOTA GAZOO Racing one-two

2025.1.24 (Fri)

An exciting first full day of 2025 FIA World Rally Championship action ended with a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team one-two, as Sébastien Ogier leads Elfyn Evans in the battle for victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Car 17 (Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais)
Car 17 (Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais)

As during the rally’s opening three stages on Thursday night, drivers faced inconsistent conditions throughout the day with some sections covered in ice and frost while others were dry or muddy.

Starting the day just two seconds from the lead, Evans moved to the front in the morning’s slippery opening stage even though he was only ninth-fastest as grip levels improved for those running further back. While the following stage would be cancelled, the last stage of the loop provided plenty of drama: Ogier moved up to second place there despite a wide moment, returning to service in Gap just 1.5s behind Evans.

Evans made the stronger start to the afternoon, winning the first stage of the loop. The second stage, unseen in the morning, featured the most slippery and icy section of the day and Evans would lose time with a half-spin there. Ogier on the other hand excelled to win his ‘home’ stage, closest to the village where he grew up, and reclaim the lead. He was quickest again in the day’s final test to finish the day 12.6s in front of Evans, who is just 1.6s ahead of another French driver, Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai).

After a steady start on Thursday, Kalle Rovanperä showed stronger speed with a stage win in the morning’s first test and climbed up from sixth to fourth overall at the beginning of the afternoon. Takamoto Katsuta also improved his pace in the afternoon as he ended the day sixth, one place ahead of Sami Pajari, who continues his learning on his first Rallye Monte-Carlo at rallying’s highest level.

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)

“We have to be happy tonight to be leading the rally with a one-two and three cars in the top four. It’s been a day of drama, with difficult conditions and new tyres that the drivers are still gaining knowledge of. Seb was a bit frustrated with his mistake last night and maybe didn’t start today with the best feeling, but this afternoon he came into his own, especially in the icy middle stage where we could see he had the confidence to push. Elfyn is still close, as is Adrien, so it remains exciting ahead of tomorrow. We can also see Kalle and Taka improving their feeling while Sami continues to gain lots of experience which is the main target for him on this event.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been tricky again out there today. This morning, the first stage was evolving with every car, and the last one of the loop was hard to judge also with the sun coming out and melting the ice that had been marked in our pacenotes. We had a pretty decent start to the afternoon, then in the middle stage a bit of a spin on the one full icy corner that we had, which cost us the lead. We lost a bit more on the last one too but it’s still not a huge gap and there’s a long way to go.”

Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“For us it’s been a clean day with no drama, but overall we were just not quick enough. In the morning the conditions were tricky but it was going OK. The pace seems to be good when we’re on the snow or studded tyres, but I still need to find some more pace for when the road is cleaner and we’re on the slick tyres. Tomorrow it seems like the roads will be a bit drier so hopefully I can find some more speed.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“It’s been a positive day, turning a 13s deficit into a 12s lead, but not everything has been perfect. 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.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“This afternoon was much better for me than the morning, when I was struggling to follow the information that was in my pacenotes. The route note crews went through the stages very early in the morning when there was a lot of black ice and frost, some of which had melted by the time we did the stages, so I found it hard to know how much grip to expect. In the afternoon it was easier, just a bit muddy and a few icy corners. There’s still interesting days to come and I just want to stay calm.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s been a really tricky day. Some stages were really good and some split times really good. We were also trying some different tyre combinations just for the experience. I can see many places where I can improve, but my mindset is to be clean and build up the confidence and knowledge step-by-step and then increase our pace. In this sense everything is still going to plan even though I would like to be a bit quicker. Tomorrow the conditions could be easier for us but we need to see how it is in the morning.”

End of day two (Friday):
1 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 1h27m00.6s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +12.6s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +14.2s
4 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +38.5s
5 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +47.3s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m37.7s
7 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +3m32.9s
8 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m58.6s
9 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroën C3 Rally2) +5m04.0s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +5m25.4s
(Results as of 20:45 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Saturday follows a similar format to Friday, with a loop of three stages west of Gap to be run twice either side of mid-day service. The loop begins with the longest test of the rally, the 27 kilometres of La Motte-Chalancon – Saint-Nazaire, which is followed by the all-new Aucelon – Recoubeau-Jansac stage.

Car 33 (Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin)
Car 33 (Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin)
Car 69 (Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen)
Car 69 (Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen)
Sébastien Ogier
Sébastien Ogier
Car 18 (Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston)
Car 18 (Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston)
Car 5 (Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen)
Car 5 (Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen)

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