Ogier, Ingrassia celebrate 50th World Rally win

24 Jan 2021: Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia celebrated their 50th World Rally win and a record eighth victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo on Sunday afternoon.

Ogier opened the defence of his 2020 FIA World Rally Championship title with a sublime performance in the French Alps, mastering snow and ice to head Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Elfyn Evans by 32.6sec in a dominant 1-2 for the Japanese squad.

The Frenchman’s eight victories span three decades and have been achieved with five different manufacturers. He ended a perfect weekend by winning the final Power Stage to add five bonus points and seal a maximum 30-point haul from the rally.

The Toyota driver shrugged aside early brake problems in his Yaris WRC. He launched a charging recovery after losing the lead on Saturday following a spin and a puncture to regain top spot ahead of Sunday’s finale in the mountains above Monaco.

Ogier, who delayed retirement for one final WRC season, more than doubled his lead in the final leg for an emotional win on a rally based in his birthplace of Gap. A 1-2 marked a dream start to Jari-Matti Latvala’s management career as team principal.

Evans led on Saturday night after Ogier’s time loss, but the Welshman could not repel his colleague and felt he had been over-cautious in the difficult conditions.

Last year’s victor, Thierry Neuville, finished a further 40.9sec behind in a Hyundai i20. It marked an impressive result for the Belgian who split with long-term co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul less than a week before the start and did not partner replacement Martijn Wydaeghe until Thursday’s opening speed test.

Neuville climbed to third when Kalle Rovanperä’s hopes of achieving a Toyota clean sweep of the podium ended with a Sunday morning puncture. The Finn finished 1min 20.1sec adrift.

Dani Sordo was fifth in another i20 after a frustrating weekend for the Spaniard on his last rally with co-driver Carlos del Barrio. Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta rounded off the top six in another Yaris.

FIA WRC2 winner Andreas Mikkelsen was seventh in a Toksport-run Škoda Fabia ahead of Gus Greensmith’s Ford Fiesta. Mikkelsen’s class rivals Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport Ford) and Eric Camilli (Sports & You Citroën C3) completed the leaderboard in ninth and tenth.

Yohan Rossel overcame Power Stage drama to seal his first ever FIA WRC3 victory. He had been locked into a ding-dong duel with fellow Citroën C3 driver Yoann Bonato for much of the event, with the lead toing and froing between the French pair throughout the opening three days. Bonato finished second, over a minute behind, while Nicolas Ciamin completed the all-French, all-Citroën C3 podium.

Round two of the championship features northern Finland’s all-new Arctic Rally Lapland. The series’ only pure winter rally is based in Rovaniemi on 26 – 28 February.

2021 Rallye Monte-Carlo – Final unofficial results: