Rallye Monte-Carlo reaches its climax tonight after four stages including two runs across the infamous Col de Turini. Here’s what’s a making the news on the final day:
SS14: Traffic jam chaos
If anyone had hopes of attacking in SS14 were dashed when privateer Jaroslav Melicharek lost traction in the heavy snow, got stuck and blocked the road on the way up to the Col de Turini.
Nobody running behind was able to get past and that caused a nasty and rather unhelpful traffic jam. Rally organisers had no alternative than to neutralise the stage and hand everyone a notional time to ensure nobody running behind gained an unfair advantage.
Mikko Hirvonen faced an anxious journey to the final stage at Sospel after he discovered that his Ford Focus RS WRC had developed a suspected alternator failure on SS14. “It’s going to be a question of survival for us,” said the man who lay in sixth place as he made his way to the Power Stage.
SS13: Hirvonen makes progress
Mikko Hirvonen breathed a huge sigh of relief as his fifth-fastest time was enough to finally edge him past his less experienced team-mate Elfyn Evans. The Finn took the place by two seconds.
Evans couldn’t challenge because of a lack of confidence. He said: “I struggled to carry any speed. It’s no surprise that Mikko has come past.”
Sebastien Ogier was fastest again, beating Kris Meeke by 3.5s. The VW ace was revelling in the heavy rain, but admitted he also had one eye on the second run through the stage, which will be used as the Power Stage. “We changed a couple of notes just in case we push for some more points on the power stage,” he joked.
Even more drama in the WRC category as the head of the leaderboard in WRC2 changed once again. Lorenzo Bertelli overtook Robert Barrable to re-take second place. The Irishman had lost time with a windscreen that wouldn’t demist properly. “I couldn’t see the corners or the lines after one kilometer. It was horrible,” he said.
SS12: Ogier dominates in the wet
Sebastien Ogier set the fastest time on the opening stage across the iconic Col de Turini. But he left it late.
He trailed VW team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 4.1s after the final split, but pulled out an advantage of 0.3s at the finish line. It was the mark of a world champion. Only 0.5s covered Ogier, Latvala and Bryan Bouffier in the top-three places.
All of the front-running drivers took studded winter tyres on the opening stage to cope with the snow that their weather crews had reported. But, the snow wasn’t as extensive as many feared and made the driving conditions challenging.
Bryan Bouffier said: “When we went through the snow, it was not easy because there was mainly slush. There was maybe only about 500 metres of hard snow.”
Citroen’s Kris Meeke was beaming after driving across the Col De Turini in a works DS3 for the first time. “I really enjoyed it in there,” he said. “This is just awesome. As young boy I grew up dreaming of days like this.”
The battle for second place in WRC2 failed to materialise. Robert Barrable was expecting Lorenzo Bertelli to challenge him hard, but the Italian’s Ford Fiesta R5 lost the drive to its rear wheels at the start of the stage and he dropped 40s to his Tunnocks World Rally Team rival. That increased Barrable’s advantage in second place to a minute.