Reigning FIA World Rally Championship champion Sebastien Ogier continued his winning streak at the season opener Rallye Monte-Carlo on Sunday. He won despite a change in his team and car for 2017.
The Frenchman eased through the final leg in the mountains above Monaco to claim his fifth Monte-Carlo success in a total of two minutes and 15 seconds in the Ford Fiesta World Rally Car for team M-Sport.
Also read: Schedule, rally days, drivers, teams, cars, new regulations of WRC 2017
Ogier was left to find a new team after his 2016 team Volkswagen Motorsport decided to end its WRC programme at the end of the season abruptly. He teamed up with UK based M-Sport, while fellow VW driver Jari-Matti Latvala signed for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC.
Latvala finished second in a Toyota Yaris on the Japanese manufacturer's return to the WRC after a 17-year long hiatus. Engine problems on the final day of the rally denied Ott Tanak the second place. M-Sport couldn't finish on an exhilarating first and second podium as Tanak slipped to third, a further 42.8 seconds behind.
Tanak kept Dani Sordo of Hyundai Motorsport at bay, despite facing tough competition. He resisted Sordo's i20 Coupe with a spirited downhill drive to the finish off the last special stage in snow. Craig Breen finished fifth in a Citroen DS3 with Elfyn Evans completing the top six in another Fiesta. The Welshman won three stages on Saturday to offset a disappointing start when he dropped several minutes in snow and ice.
"I was hoping to win but to take it from the first rally, after only one month together and with so little preparation, feels really amazing," said Ogier. "The conditions didn't make our life easy this weekend, starting first in the snow on day one and finishing with more and more snow."
