Sebastien Ogier leads Rallye Monte-Carlo 2025 after the second day of action. Find out more about the day below!
Morning Loop
Elfyn Evans led the event at the end of the second day’s morning loop. The Welshman had a lead of 1.5 seconds over 9-time Rallye Monte-Carlo winner Sebastien Oiger. Adrien Fourmaux moves up to third overall after the loop, now 4.7 seconds behind Ogier and 6.2 seconds behind Evans. Kalle Rovanperä and Adrien Fourmuax each won a stage. Only two stages were run as SS5 was cancelled due to a spectator injury. Both Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak encountered major issues involving ditches. As Neuville’s rear driver-side tyre was left hanging on by a thread after a venture into a ditch. While Tänak’s i20 was left looking like a pickup truck after his venture into a ditch.
Afternoon Loop
Sebastien Ogier took the event lead over the course of the loop to end the day with a 12.6-second lead over Elfyn Evans. Adrien Fourmaux remains in third place, now 1.4 seconds behind Evans and 14.2 seconds behind Ogier. Sebastien Ogier took two stage wins during the loop (SS8 and SS9) while Evans had a single stage win. Neuville once again had an issue during the loop. Oddly enough it was caused in the exact same spot as last time. This time, however, he didn’t nearly take a tyre off the car. However, he didn’t nearly damage the car enough that he was forced to use road mode for the stage. Grégoire Munster retired after the stage ended due to a mechanical issue.
Driver/Team Quotes
Toyota Gazoo Racing
Jari-Matti Latvala – Team Principal
“We have to be happy tonight to be leading the rally with a one-two and three cars in the top four. It’s been a day of drama, with difficult conditions and new tyres that the drivers are still gaining knowledge of. Seb was a bit frustrated with his mistake last night and maybe didn’t start today with the best feeling, but this afternoon he came into his own, especially in the icy middle stage where we could see he had the confidence to push. Elfyn is still close, as is Adrien, so it remains exciting ahead of tomorrow. We can also see Kalle and Taka improving their feeling while Sami continues to gain lots of experience which is the main target for him on this event.”
Sebastien Ogier – 1st Overall
“It’s been a positive day, turning a 13s deficit into a 12s lead, but not everything has been perfect. I was struggling to find a rhythm in the morning and also in the first stage this afternoon, when I was not really driving close enough to the limit. I’m glad I managed to find that for the last two stages, and especially that I managed to win my home stage with a lot of family and friends watching. But we can’t relax yet, there’s still a long way to go and we have to continue in this way tomorrow.”
Elfyn Evans – 2nd Overall
“It’s been tricky again out there today. This morning, the first stage was evolving with every car, and the last one of the loop was hard to judge also with the sun coming out and melting the ice that had been marked in our pacenotes. We had a pretty decent start to the afternoon, then in the middle stage a bit of a spin on the one full icy corner that we had, which cost us the lead. We lost a bit more on the last one too but it’s still not a huge gap and there’s a long way to go.”
Kalle Rovanperä – 4th Overall
“For us it’s been a clean day with no drama, but overall we were just not quick enough. In the morning the conditions were tricky but it was going OK. The pace seems to be good when we’re on the snow or studded tyres, but I still need to find some more pace for when the road is cleaner and we’re on the slick tyres. Tomorrow it seems like the roads will be a bit drier so hopefully I can find some more speed.”
Takamoto Katsuta – 6th Overall
“This afternoon was much better for me than the morning, when I was struggling to follow the information that was in my pacenotes. The route note crews went through the stages very early in the morning when there was a lot of black ice and frost, some of which had melted by the time we did the stages, so I found it hard to know how much grip to expect. In the afternoon it was easier, just a bit muddy and a few icy corners. There’s still interesting days to come and I just want to stay calm.”
Sami Pajari – 7th Overall
“It’s been a really tricky day. Some stages were really good and some split times really good. We were also trying some different tyre combinations just for the experience. I can see many places where I can improve, but my mindset is to be clean and build up the confidence and knowledge step-by-step and then increase our pace. In this sense everything is still going to plan even though I would like to be a bit quicker. Tomorrow the conditions could be easier for us but we need to see how it is in the morning.”
Hyundai Shell Mobis
Adrien Fourmaux – 3rd Overall
“It’s been a really good day. We didn’t make any mistakes with the tyres, we had really good pace and we made it to third in the provisional classification. There’s still a long rally ahead, but we are really pleased with what we have achieved so far. I think every driver wants to win here, although it is not my target, but we will keep this pace and see where we are. As a team today has been quite a shame, but it’s positive for us so we will see what happens. Tomorrow will be a new challenge, but we areconfident that we can keep a good pace – nothing is impossible at Rallye Monte-Carlo. ”
Ott Tänak – 5th Overall
“It’s been a demanding day; lots of condition changes, even from first loop to second loop you don’t really recognise the conditions. We have seen more or less everything today – from dry tarmac to black ice. The contrast is huge between the grip levels we had on the same stage, so in the end we just had to go with the information we had, trust it and go for it. This afternoon was a bit of a struggle to get into the rhythm. Before the last stage we balanced some settings on the car, and after that it behaved a bit better. Now we need to get back into the faster rhythm. We need to see what’s coming tomorrow, and we are still not sure what is waiting for us. ”
Thierry Neuville – 8th Overall
“Today was a day to forget, I made a mistake this morning and misjudged the braking with these studded tyres. The target this afternoon was to see if we could gain back a bit of time this afternoon, maybe a position or two, and then unfortunately we had a puncture three kilometres into the same stage. We don’t know these tyres very well, but we decided to continue with the puncture and the tyre went in a braking zone. I am disappointed with the one mistake this morning, but a puncture can happen to anybody. We made some changes overnight for the day and I couldn’t find the confidence I needed all day. We’ll go back to the setup we used Thursday evening and see if we feel more comfortable. ”
Pablo Marcos – Team Manager
“In general, we are in a good position for tomorrow and Sunday. It was a difficult day for Thierry, he had to open the road with new tyres which was only made more challenging because of the road conditions we have here in Monte Carlo. He had a small off in the last stage of both loops that cost him a lot of time, and in the first instance caused some damage that the team did a great job to fix at midday service. We will try and have a safe day tomorrow so on Sunday he can bring home as many points as possible. Ott had some good pace, but he had an off on SS6 that created some damage on the car. The mechanics worked hard to fix those for the second loop, and in the afternoon he drove at a safer pace to bring the car home. Adrien had the most positive day; from the beginning he had good pace with very little mistakes. He felt comfortable with the car and that helped him finish the day in the top three, and this will give him plenty of confidence with a new team and a new car. We are all looking forward to hopefully having a day without struggles tomorrow so we can be in the fight for Sunday points. We are still targeting a good points haul, and want to keep Adrien and Ott in the top five by the end of the event. ”