They’re playing ‘yours-mine’. If on Thursday night Sebastien Ogier became the king of the night and placed himself at the head of the Monte Carlo Rally, on Friday it was his namesake Loeb who took the baton, taking the lead from him. But Saturday arrived, and the one from Gap cut the roll for the Alsatian and is approaching what would be his ninth win in the Principality. In the absence of 4 sections and 67 timed kilometres, 21 seconds separate the two ‘sebastienes’.
A win-eater like Ogier could not sit still before the display of power that his eternal rival made on Friday. For this reason, in the third stage of the Monegasque rally he gritted his teeth and stepped on the accelerator to try to turn the tables. Section by section he narrowed the short gap that separated him from Loeb until they reached the Thoard stage, the shortened version of the mythical Sisteron, tied. And there, with much of its kilometers covered with snow and ice, the first match point would be played. It was for Ogier, although his lead then was short, just 5.4 seconds.
On the return to that key stage of the day, there was a moment of strategic tension. Shortly after the exit, When Ogier saw Loeb arrive with four tarmac tires mounted on his Ford, he ran out of the Toyota and swapped his two snow tires for two dry ones to get an even start. And the play went well for him, since he endorsed him 16 seconds that allow him to face the short final stage with a margin of 21. An important oxygen ball that, however, will not allow him a mistake, because surely his namesake will go for all All or nothing. He has it difficult, but not impossible, and he will surely try.
The one who fell from that fight for the victory was Elfyn Evans, which left the first pass through Thoard and hung in a ravine from which it took 20 minutes to get out. The ‘via crucis’ of the Hyundai reached maximum heights on this day. Oliver Solberg left first, losing a minute to return to the road, then it was Ott Tanak who hit a slope and left, and Thierry Neuville dropped out of the fight for the podium by dragging all day problems with a shock absorber .
Classification
1. Ogier-Veillas (Fra/Toyota), 2h 19m 43.1s
2. Loeb-Galmiche (Fra/Ford), at 21.1
3. Breen-Nagle (Irl/Ford), at 1:26.0
4. Rovanpera-Halttunen (Fin/Toyota), at 2:03.8
5. Greensmith-Andersson (GBR/Ford), 6:33.8
