©TOYOTA
2022 WRC Round 1 Monte Carlo will be held on Saturday, January 22nd, the third day of the competition, with Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier taking the lead, M-Sport Ford’s Sebastien Loeb in second, and M-Sport in third. -Weared by Craig Breen of Ford. Katsuta, who was in 5th place overall, got stuck at SS13 at the end of the day and lost a lot of time.
What was held on this day was 5SS from SS9 to SS13, and the SS distance was 92.46km. Since SS11 / 13 on this day is closed in winter, it is highly possible that the road surface is frozen. Each car went to the stage by combining studless tires and studless tires with soft compound tires as the axis. The combinations of each car are as follows.
4 soft + 2 studs
Elfyn Evans / Oliver Solberg
4 soft + 2 studless
Takamoto Katsuta / Kalle Rovanpera
4 software + 1 super software
Thierry Neuville / Ott Tänak
3 soft + 1 super soft + 2 studs
Sebastien Ogier
2 soft + 2 super soft + 2 studs
Sebastien Loeb / Craig Breen / Gus Greensmith
It was Evans who won SS9 on the opening stage. Rovanpera was in 2nd place in SS, and Ojie was in 3rd place in SS. The overall top-ranked robe had super soft tires backfired, and he wasn’t enthusiastic regarding the SS7th fastest time. Even so, he is still in the lead position by 6.5 seconds. In this SS, Tanak punctured the left rear tire, resulting in a time loss, and Solberg, the leading runner, had trouble hearing Intercom from the previous day.
It was Ojie who marked the best time in the following SS10. With Evans in SS2 and Rovanpera in SS3, Toyota continues to perform well. Robe is SS4, 6.5 seconds behind Ogier. With this, the two will be in the lead overall at the same time. Solberg, who was the lead runner, swelled outward at the right corner and went off the track. Fortunately, the damage was only on the exterior, and he returned to the course despite losing the front bumper, but he was delayed by 35 minutes on this stage alone. Neuville will also be penalized for 10 seconds, one minute late to enter the TC of this SS. There is also a problem with the machine balance, and in this SS, he was overtaken by Breen and dropped to 5th overall.
M-SPORT
SS11 was a battle on the ice and snow road. The upper team started with studless tires cross-mounted with the aim of averaging grips. On the other hand, Neuville and Tanak will attack with normal tires with the aim of improving speed in the dry section. It was Ojie who won the stage. He jumped to the top position by 5.4 seconds behind the robe of SS4 finish. Evans, who had been in 3rd place overall so far, went off the track at the right corner of the dry section, and although the machine stopped when he almost fell off the cliff, he might not get out of the stack. Due to the pulling up of Evans’s machine, the stage resulted in a red flag when the robe ran. At this stage, Tanak slow punctured the right front tire. It was impossible to continue the rally here because one tire had already been used up.
In the tire fitting zone for the followingnoon stage, each car was selected with a combination of soft and snow tires. Only Neuville combines software and super software.
4 soft + 2 studless
Ogier / Evans / Rovanpera / Katsuta
4 soft + 2 studs
Robe / Breen / Greensmith / Solberg
3 software + 2 super software
Thierry Neuville
Rovanpera marked the first best time of the tournament in SS12, which will be the restart of SS10. The result was that Robe was in 2nd place in SS, and Ojie was in 3rd place in SS. With this, the difference between the overall leader Ogier and the overall second-place robe was 5.0 seconds. Neuville, who was in 4th overall, damaged the right front suspension. The top mount penetrates and the bonnet is also damaged. Although the stage was completed with this, Neuville suffered a big loss of 3 minutes 40 seconds 3 and dropped to 6th overall. Instead, Rovanpera has emerged in 4th overall and Katsuta has emerged in 5th overall.
The last SS13 of the day was the rerun stage of SS11, which became an ice and snow road. Here, following the previous stage, Rovanpera set the best time in a row. The next SS 2nd is Ojie. Solberg and Breen lined up in SS3 at the same time, and Robe was in SS5. With this, the difference between the overall leader Ogier and Loeb was further widened, and the final day was reached with a difference of 21.1 seconds. Katsuta is stuck in this SS. I ran to the finish safely with the help of the spectators, but I lost a lot of time. In addition, Ogier and Robe, who are competing for the lead, do not use snow tires and attack with four soft tires aiming to improve the time in the dry section. In an interview following the SS finish, Ogier commented, “I saw Cebu (robe) wearing slick tires, so we replaced them just before the start.”
HYUNDAI
After the third day, the difference between the overall leader Ogier and the overall second-place robe was 21.1 seconds. Breen, who is 3rd overall, is 1 minute and 26 seconds behind Ogier, and it can be said that the battle for victory was narrowed down to the two Cebu. Rovanpera is in 4th overall, Greensmith is in 5th overall, and Neuville is in 6th overall, overcoming troubles. Katsuta’s stack at SS13 echoed, dropping to 13th overall and aiming to recover on the final day.
The final day of the competition on January 23 (Sun) will be contested at 4SS from SS14 to SS17 and SS distance 67.26km. It is configured to run twice on the SS of 19.37km and 14.26. 2022 WRC will be the first winner of the day. The opening SS14 will start at 16:45 on Sunday, 23rd Japan time.
Provisional results following WRC Monte Carlo SS13
1. S. Ogier (Toyota GR Yaris Rally 1) 2:19:43.1.
2. S. Loeb (Ford Puma Hybrid Rally 1) +21.1
3. C. Breen (Ford Puma Hybrid Rally 1) + 1: 26.0
4. K. Rovanpera (Toyota GR Yaris Rally 1) +2: 03.8
5. G. Greensmith (Ford Puma Hybrid Rally 1) +6: 33.8
6. T. Nuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally 1) +7: 44.1
7. A. Mikkelsen (Skoda Fabia Rally 2 evo) +9: 37.2
8. E. Kais (Ford Fiesta Rally 2) +9: 59.6
9. G. Münster (Hyundai i20 N Rally 2) +10: 44.1
10. Y. Rossell (Citroen C3 Rally 2) +11: 44.1
13. Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota GR Yaris Rally 1) +12: 23.3.
