Tanak puts Ogier and Loeb in shade on Monte Carlo opener

January 25, 2019 | 11:10

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Estonia's Ott Tanak, behind the wheel of a Toyota, mastered the icy conditions on the opening day of the Monte Carlo Rally on Thursday (Jan 24), leaving defending six-time world champion Sebastien Ogier and nine-time winner Sebastien Loeb in his wake.

tanak puts ogier and loeb in shade on monte carlo opener

Estonian driver Ott Tanak and his co-pilot Martin Jarveoja of Estonia steer their Toyota Yaris WRC in Gap, southeastern France. (JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT/AFP)

Tanak opened a 9.1sec lead over Ogier in a Citroen and is 14.3sec ahead of Belgium's Thierry Neuville in a Hyundai.

"I guess everything at this rally is a kind of a surprise and it's difficult to expect anything," said Tanak after the two stages run on studded tyres to combat the frozen ground.

"Some places were even more slippery and tricky than we expected."

Loeb, fresh from a third-place finish on the sand dunes of the Dakar Rally in Peru, could only manage eighth in another factory Hyundai.

The French driver, who is competing in just a portion of the 2019 world championship, hit trouble on the second stage of the day and finished more than 55 seconds off the lead.

Ogier was the happier of the two French drivers as he chases a seventh win on the storied rally, the curtain raiser to the world championship season.

"I'm happy to be here, we all knew it was going to be a tricky start," tweeted Ogier who has won the last six world titles.

"Maybe we were a little bit too safe on the icy places in SS1 but we managed to do a good time on the dry with crossed tyres, and overall it's not a bad start for us."

Finland's Teemu Suninen, in an M-Sport Ford, came off the track on the opening stage and was the first day's only retirement.

AFP

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