Thierry Neuville threw away his chance of winning the Monte-Carlo Rally on Friday morning with a crash – wild ride also for Tänak, Elfyn Evans leads
Defeat for defending champion Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) at the Rally Monte-Carlo, the season opener for the 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC). The Belgian damaged the rear suspension of his car in an accident on the fifth stage and no longer has a chance of winning.
Neuville, who was in second place overall at the time, braked too late before a sharp right-hand bend about halfway through the “La Breole/Selonnet 1” stage, skidded off the road and hit the embankment on the side. The left rear wheel suspension of his Hyundai broke.
Neuville continued the stage with a broken rear wheel and reached the finish. However, it is questionable whether he will be able to continue the journey to the service area, as the car must have four functional wheels in order to be allowed on public roads. After a makeshift repair, Neuville managed to return to the service park.
Ott Tänak also demolishes his Hyundai
“I think we paid the price for having little experience with these tires in dry conditions,” Neuville told Rally.TV, referring to the new Hankook tires. “The tire felt quite stable, but then I lost it under braking, saw the ditch and hit the rear.”
Neuville was not the only driver to go off the road on the fifth stage. His teammate Ott Tänak also slid through a ditch and into some bushes, badly damaging his Hyundai – among other things, the boot lid and rear wing came off.
However, Tänak only lost 17 seconds and continued his journey. Sebastien Ogier (Toyota) also made a brief detour into the ditch, which in his case ended without incident.
Difficult tire choice on Friday morning
Elfyn Evans (Toyota) was largely spared such problems and leads the rally after six of 18 special stages. However, the lead in the overall standings is close. Evans is only 1.5 seconds ahead of Ogier. Third is Adrian Fourmaux (Hyundai, +6.2 seconds), who was by far the fastest on the fifth special stage.
Since icy road conditions were expected, especially for the second special stage of the day, almost all of the Rally1 drivers mainly used studded winter tires. Gregoire Munster (Ford) was an exception, choosing only two studded tires. This paid off for the Luxembourger on the “Saint-Maurice/Aubessagne” special stage at the beginning of the day.
Munster set the second-best time on asphalt that was only dry in places. Only Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) was faster, exactly 1.5 seconds quicker. On the fifth stage, Munster was also on course for the best time for a long time, but then lost time in the slippery final section. WRC2 driver Oliver Solberg (Toyota) also put in an impressive performance, finishing just 5.9 seconds behind Rovanperä for fourth fastest time. Evans beat Neuville by 2.8 seconds to take the overall lead.
Fourth stage had to be canceled
The start of the following stage “Saint-Leger-les-Melezes/La Batie-Neuve” had to be postponed because spectators were in unsafe places. Since the organizers could not solve the problem in time, the stage had to be canceled for safety reasons.
On Friday afternoon, the three stages of the morning will be driven again at the Monte Carlo Rally.
