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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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
