The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsSébastien Ogier began the defence of his FIA World Rally Championship Drivers’ title in style by winning his third Rallye Monte-Carlo.
The Frenchman, who grew up just a few miles from the rally’s mountain stages, hardly put a foot wrong all weekend to secure a hat-trick of ‘Monte’ wins.
A phenomenal drive in difficult wintry conditions saw the Volkswagen driver begin the 2016 WRC season with the best possible start. 25 points for the win, plus three bonus points as the fastest driver through Sunday’s powerstage.
Ogier, whose parents joined him at the finish to celebrate his triumph, said;
“This rally is the most important of the season for me. It’s so emotional. Victory on such a difficult rally.
“I’m very happy. I want to thank all my team because it’s really been, more than ever, a team effort this weekend. The car was perfect once again so I’m very happy with another victory for Volkswagen too.”
Ogier finished 1 minute 54.5 seconds ahead of fellow Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelsen in second place.
The Norwegian, who heaped praise upon his new co-driver Anders Jaeger at the finish, gained an extra point as the third fastest driver through the powerstage.
Mikkelsen had been battling with Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala for third position on Saturday afternoon before Latvala was forced to retire.
The Finnish driver slid wide and into a ditch, then through a field, scattering spectators before rejoining the road and continuing on despite damage to the Polo R.
Latvala received a suspended ban for one rally from the stewards as a result of knocking a spectator down and failing to stop.
No reports of any injuries have been made, and Latvala claims that he was unaware of any contact after steam and mud obscured his view.
Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito said the team had no reason to doubt the Finn’s version of events, and that Latvala would have stopped had he known.
“This guy is crying when a fly hits his windscreen,” Capito said.
Thierry Neuville was able to bring his New Generation i20 home in third position overall on the car’s competitive debut.
The Hyundai driver, along with team-mate Dani Sordo, had struggled to really get to grips with the new car on the rally’s opening stages.
More than a minute behind Mikkelsen before Saturday afternoon’s action, an inspired tyre selection saw the Belgian claim back-to-back stage wins and cut the deficit to just 12.5 seconds.
Neuville continued the attack on Sunday morning before technical troubles with the car meant that almost all of the time he had gained disappeared on the final stage of the rally, and he was forced to settle for third position.
No such problems for team-mate Sordo. The Spaniard split the two remaining Volkswagens on the powerstage to secure two bonus points in the Drivers’ Championship.
His poor start, combined with having to make repairs after hitting a bank on Saturday’s opening stage, meant that he ultimately finished more than ten and a half minutes behind Ogier in sixth position.
The result could have been totally different had an exposed rock not ripped away the sump guard and caused major damage to the gearbox on Kris Meeke’s Citroën DS3 on Saturday afternoon.
Meeke topped the time-sheets after the rally’s two stages on Thursday evening, and continued to battle Ogier on Friday with the rally lead swapping between the two.
Before his retirement, the Briton was in second position and looked to be the only driver that could put any real pressure on the reigning champion.
With Meeke out of the running, Ogier had a considerable lead over the rest of the field, almost two minutes ahead of Mikkelsen in second place.
Ogier drove a smart final few stages and in the drier conditions, with the pressure off, the reigning champion showed that he’s just as determined as ever.
Despite the tricky, wintry conditions encountered on the mountains of the Monte this year, the WRC now heads north to the only true winter rally of the season.
Rally Sweden begins on the 11th of February.
The 2016 FIA WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo point scoring positions;
| POS. | DRIVER | TIME | DIFF. | DIFF. TO 1ST |
| 1 | S. OGIER | 3:49:53.1 | ||
| 2 | A. MIKKELSEN | 3:51:47.6 | +1:54.5 | +1:54.5 |
| 3 | T. NEUVILLE | 3:53:11.0 | +1:23.4 | +3:17.9 |
| 4 | M. OSTBERG | 3:54:40.8 | +1:29.8 | +4:47.7 |
| 5 | S. LEFEBVRE | 3:57:28.7 | +2:47.9 | +7:35.6 |
| 6 | D. SORDO | 4:00:28.6 | +2:59.9 | +10:35.5 |
| 7 | O. TANAK | 4:01:33.0 | +1:04.4 | +11:39.9 |
| 8 | E. EVANS | 4:08:23.9 | +6:50.9 | +18:30.8 |
| 9 | E. LAPPI | 4:10:34.1 | +2:10.2 | +20:41.0 |
| 10 | A. KREMER | 4:10:37.0 | +2.9 | +20:43.9 |
