Neuville to the fault, Evans leader in front of Ogier and Fourmaux

After the start of Rallye Monte-Carlo in night this Thursday evening, the first event of the 2025 WRC season continued this Friday morning with a loop of almost 55 km consisting of three specials between Hautes-Alpes et alpes on the program. -D-Haute-Provence. A loop, however, truncated by the cancellation of the fifth special and at the end of which Elfyn Evans emerged at the controls of the event, while Thierry Neuville has already lost big.

The first special (18.68 km between Saint-Maurice and Aubessagne) was disputed on a wet and frosted roadway, the pilots generally choosing the studded tires to start this day in these tracking conditions but gradually improving. In this little game, Kalle Rovanperä, who left eighth of the ten rally1 engaged, was most at ease at the wheel of his Toyota, signing the scratch without noting a change concerning his sensations while driving.

Sign that the improvement of the road played full at the end of this ES4, the two closest pursuing Rovanperä were none other than the two pilots having started after him, namely Grégoire Munster (author of a Aggressive choice being the only one to have only two nails in its selection) at 1 “4 and Sami Pajari at 3” 6. First to set off, Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans released 22 “3 and 19” 5 respectively, the Welsh then taking control of the event, while the Top 5 tightened in 16 seconds.

The ES5 (16.68 km between Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes and La Bâtie-Neuve) was therefore purely and simply canceled. Two spectators, a priori injured following a landslide according to information from the Dauphiné Libéré, were indeed assisted by the medical teams present, therefore leading to the delay in departure and then the cancellation of the special, the crews being then oriented Towards a bis route to reach the departure of ES6.

Neuville, Tänak and Ogier to the fault in ES6

The latter (18.31 km between the Bréole and Selonnet) still displayed very complicated conditions, with frost and ice in certain shaded portions, but also a lot of completely dry areas.

A first turning point in the Monte-Carlo rally occurred in a dry and sun, with a Neuville error on the braking of a pin shortly before mid-term, the Belgian then going to hit an embankment head on. If the hyundai of the world champion was able to leave quickly, the consequences of this exit were important with a seriously damaged left back half-round, the wheel holding only a thread, and almost two minutes of lost while waiting for the verdict of assistance.

A few minutes later, it was Ott Tänak’s turn to curl the correctional in a wooded section, going for a walk in a ditch before narrowly avoids a post; Even if the time was not too impacted, the Estonian still left part of his body there and the whole tailgate in the back. Definitely agitated, this special also saw Sébastien Ogier going to the fault, less seriously than his opponents from Hyundai, based on an embankment before regaining the pace, almost as if nothing had happened, returning less two seconds from his Evans teammate to the general.

Under these conditions, it is the third man of Hyundai, Adrien Fourmaux, who offered the scratch at the end of a special drum special, replacing six seconds from Evans to general. Always taking advantage of his choice of tires, Munster confirmed his beautiful morning by signing the second time of ES6, four seconds behind the Frenchman. This special will have been less impressive for Rovanperä, author of the fifth time at 11 seconds, even if it will have done a large part of the path by replacing itself within reach of the podium.

Friday morning scratchs
Es4	18,68 km	Saint-Maurice / Aubessagne 1	K. Rovanperä
Es5	16,68 km	Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes / La Bâtie-Neuve 1	Canceled
ES6	18,31 km	Bréole / Selonnet 1	A. Fourmaux