Defending WRC champion Thierry Neuville led under the stars of Rallye Monte-Carlo on Thursday evening, thrilling the thousands of fans who lined the alpine roads north-west of Monaco as early pacesetter Sébastien Ogier suffered a costly spin.
The 2025 FIA World Rally Championship season launched in spectacular fashion, starting with a ceremonial send-off at Monaco’s iconic Casino Square. From there, the competing crews – along with tens of thousands of fans – ascended into the French Alps for the opening trio of stages. The night-time action, illuminated by dazzling headlights and fireworks, was beamed to over 150 countries through more than 50 broadcasters and WRC’s flagship streaming platform, Rally.TV.
Chasing a record-extending 10th Monte-Carlo victory, Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 ace Ogier stamped his authority by posting consecutive fastest times for the opening two stages. However, the Frenchman’s hopes took a hit in the final test from Avançon to Notre-Dame-du-Laus. A wide slide into a fence post cost him over 20 seconds, dropping him to third.
Neuville, driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally1, capitalised on Ogier’s misstep to claim the overnight lead with a slender 2.0sec advantage over Elfyn Evans’ Toyota. Ogier, meanwhile, trailed 12.8sec further back in third.
The Belgian relied on Hankook’s newly developed Ventus Z215 super soft tyres, which performed reliably on a challenging mixture of dry and damp asphalt plus treacherous patches of ice.
“On the first part [of SS3] I was painting the road, and in the last part I was cleaning the road!” Neuville smiled. “Super tricky to keep it on the road. I’m happy with the first day. Overall, our target was to finish today.”
Ogier counted himself lucky to escape without major damage, saying: “[It was] difficult of course. A lot of mud on the road and we hit a pole sideways. It’s always lucky to get away with that.”
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak kept things steady to secure fourth, 27.0sec adrift of Neuville’s lead. The Estonian overtook debuting team-mate Adrien Fourmaux on SS3, with the Frenchman ending just 3.0sec behind him.
A further 13.9sec back was two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who returns to Toyota for a full-time campaign in 2025 after his part-time schedule last season. Rovanperä admitted his lack of recent experience in Monte-Carlo left him on the back foot as he ended the night down in sixth.
M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver Grégoire Munster placed seventh, edging Takamoto Katsuta – who was battling a bout of the flu – by 4.5sec. Finnish talent Sami Pajari placed ninth as Nikolay Gryazin closed out the top 10 in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Citroën star Yohan Rossel was the highest-placed WRC2-registered driver. He claimed 11th overall ahead of Irishman Josh McErlean, who made a cautious but sensible start on his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 debut.
The rally continues on Friday with six challenging stages totalling over 100 competitive kilometres.
Standings after Thursday (SS3 /18):
1. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 N 32m 58.8s
2. E Evans / S Martin GBR Toyota GR Yaris +2.0s
3. S Ogier / V Landais FRA Toyota GR Yaris +12.8s
4. O Tänak / M Järveoja EST Hyundai i20 N +27.0s
5. A Fourmaux / A Coria FRA Hyundai i20 N +30.0s
6. K Rovanperä / J Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris +43.9s
