Oliver Solberg survived a slow puncture to hold a healthy Rally Monte Carlo lead, as Toyota’s new World Rally Championship signing continued his domination of the event.
Solberg, co-driven by Elliott Edmondson, chalked up two stage wins from Friday morning’s three tests that served up extremely challenging snow- and ice-covered roads. The son of 2003 world champion Petter Solberg headed to the midday service leading Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by 1m04.2s.
Reigning world champion and 10-time Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier was unable to claw back ground on Solberg, ending the loop in third, 1m39.9s adrift.
The impressive Solberg picked up where he left off from Thursday night as crews once again faced roads featuring a mix of snow, ice, dry and wet asphalt. The Swede took the challenge in his stride romping to a second stage win of the rally, 19.1s faster than Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Solberg’s stunning time was 26.5s faster than team-mate Evans as he extended his rally lead to 1m10.7s over the Welshman.
“I am cautious, but having fun. The gravel crew did an amazing job in there to have everything exactly where they were, I trusted it 100%! Good job,” said Solberg.
Oliver Solberg, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Neuville continued to struggle with the Hankook winter tyres but delivered a better showing, as the Belgian continued to hold fourth overall.
Monte Carlo master Ogier was fourth fastest in stage four, 6.3s behind Evans, but a whopping 32.8s behind Solberg.
Gregoire Munster was the fastest M-Sport runner but it was team-mate Jon Armstrong that held onto fifth overall ahead of Adrien Fourmaux, Takamoto Katsuta and Hayden Paddon. M-Sport’s Josh McErlean and Toyota’s Sami Pajari rejoined the rally after retiring in SS2 on Thursday night.
Solberg’s charge was dented in stage five when the Toyota driver picked up a front-left puncture to one of his studded tyres that contributed to a loss of 27.2s.
“I don’t know how [the puncture happened], it started very slowly and eventually it dropped pressure. Stupid puncture,” said Solberg.
The stage was largely dry and without snow and ice, which played into the hands of those at the top of the road order, as cuts made the road increasingly dirty.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Philip Fitzpatrick / Sportsfile via Getty Images
Evans took full advantage to claim his second stage win of the rally, as he eclipsed Ogier by 4.8s, to close the gap to leader Solberg to 43.5s.
Ogier pulled away from Neuville in the fight for third as the latter, running the super soft and studded tyres, struggled for speed and ended the stage 30s slower than Evans.
Solberg wasn’t the only driver to hit trouble in the stage as Toyota’s Katsuta and M-Sport’s Munster picked up front left and right punctures respectively. Munster stopped to change a wheel before pulling over to let through the chasing Hyundai driven by Paddon, and then ended the loop with another puncture in stage six.
The snow and ice returned for stage six along with sections of mud, but once again it was Solberg that mastered the conditions the best. Despite losing one of his studded tyres to a puncture, he delivered a stage win by 8.8s from Neuville, who showed signs of improved pace from the Hyundai camp.
“It is not getting any easier, it is crazy [out there]. I just need to breathe a little bit now because the focus is so intense,” said Solberg.
“It is a minute lead which is great but in Monte Carlo it is not a lot still and anything can happen like I had with the slow puncture. You need a bit of luck too but this afternoon will be more tricky. There will be a lot of mud for the others too, not only me, this morning. It will be a bit more consistent but very tricky.”
Gregoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
Fourmaux, who has also been struggling with Hankook’s winter tyres, was third fastest which helped the Frenchman end the loop in fifth overall, albeit 2m28.2s from the lead.
Those towards the top of the order suffered more in the conditions as Evans and Ogier posted fourth and fifth fastest times respectively, and subsequently lost the gains made on Solberg in the previous stage.
M-Sport-Ford Rally1 rookie Jon Armstrong drove smartly through the three stages but lost grip of fifth overall to Fourmaux. Katsuta picked up another front-right puncture in the stage as he headed to service in seventh ahead of the returning Hyundai WRC driver Hayden Paddon.
The top 10 was rounded out by WRC2 runners, Citroen’s Leo Rossel and Lancia’s Nikolay Gryazin. Crews will repeat the loop of stages this afternoon.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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