(Reuters) – Sebastien Ogier made a strong start to his bid for a record ninth Monte Carlo rally victory by winning the first two night stages of the season-opening event in the French Alps on Thursday.
France’s eight-times world champion, who is now competing part-time in the championship, led Toyota team mate Elfyn Evans by six seconds at the end of 40.2km of competitive action on the mountain passes.
The rally had earlier held its ceremonial start in Monaco’s Casino Square.
“It’s never easy to start this rally at night, but at least the conditions were not so inconsistent,” said Ogier, who faced black ice as the main hazard with temperatures plunging after nightfall.
“There was only one really tricky corner and for once I was not starting first on the road, so I could benefit from seeing the lines from the others. That helped.”
Ogier won both of the night’s stages, the first a run up the famed Col de Turini with dry asphalt instead of the usual snowbanks.
The Frenchman shares the record of eight Monte Carlo wins with compatriot and nine-times world champion Sebastien Loeb, who is absent this year after finishing runner-up in the Dakar Rally that ended in Saudi Arabia last Sunday.
Estonian Ott Tanak was in third place for M-Sport Ford, 9.4 seconds behind Evans, with Belgian Thierry Neuville fourth for Hyundai.
Toyota’s reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera was in fifth place.
Friday features a repeated loop of three stages and a total of 105.34km of competitive driving.
The rally finishes on Sunday.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
