Rallying - Defending champion Ogier claims season opener in Monte Carlo

PARIS (Reuters) - Sebastien Ogier of France opened the defence of his rallying world title with a commanding victory in the Rally Monte Carlo, his 41st in WRC, on Sunday.





The M-Sport Ford driver, winner of the last five world titles, started the fourth and final leg with a 33.5-second lead over Toyota's Ott Tanak and it proved a comfortable enough cushion.

He extended his lead over the Estonian up to almost a minute ahead of the final stage and Tanak ended up second 58.3 seconds behind at the end of the four days.

Ogier is the first driver to win the Rally Monte Carlo five times in a row.

Finn Jari-Matti Latvala took third place, one minute 52 seconds off the pace.

"It's been a difficult weekend. Often in Monte Carlo you have to face hard conditions, but this has been extremely difficult," said Ogier.

"I've never struggled with the tyre choices so much, but in the end we win and I'm super happy. I need to thank the team for another good start to the season. Every driver did mistakes this weekend - I did too. I made a few less."

Ogier joined M-Sport last season after Volkswagen, with whom he won his first four titles, pulled out as part of a strategic shift to help the German carmaker overcome a costly emissions scandal.

The Frenchman won only four of the 17 stages, including three of the first four, but always had his rivals in check in sometimes muddy conditions.

The next leg of the world championships is the Rally Sweden from Feb. 15-18.





(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world