TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team duo Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier are first and second at Rallye Monte-Carlo with just 4.5 seconds between them after the first full day of stages on Friday.
After winning both of Thursday night’s opening stages, Evans brought a lead of 15.1s into Friday and would demonstrate typically consistent pace throughout the day, where he was never outside of the top three stage times.
Ogier began the day third overall and claimed his first stage win of the rally in SS4 by one second over Evans, before a stunning time in SS5 where he was 11.2s faster than anyone else. That promoted him up to second place and within 10.7s of his team-mate at the end of the morning loop.
The GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID pair were closely matched in the first two stages of the afternoon, before Ogier recorded another stage win in the dark final test to further close the gap. It remains a three-way contest for the lead with Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) 11.6s behind Ogier.
Takamoto Katsuta was one of many drivers to be caught out on a particularly icy corner in the morning’s first stage, and required the help of spectators to get back on the road. Having lost around five minutes, he is 12th overall.
