An old Leb directs the first morning in Monte Carlo

The new, hybrid era of the WRC began with the duel of the two superstars of the last 20 years, the multi-champions Sebastian Leb and Sebastian Ozier – making this year’s Monte Carlo Rally, the opener of the 2022 race, the first of their few appearances in this one Year with Ford Puma Rally1 and Toyota Yaris Rally1.

Leb’s return to the World Rally Championship for the first time since the 2020 Rally Turkey (then with Hyundai) was impressive, as was the debut of the new Ford Puma R1, taking three of the top five after last night’s two specials in the mountains above Monaco and the famous Col de Turini.

Ozier, with the new Toyota Yaris Rally1 and his new co-driver Benjamin Veilla, overcame both the icy and slippery tests last night to spend the night 6.7 seconds ahead of Leb. The latter, with Isabel Galmi at his side instead of Daniel Elena, scored two second times in completely opposite conditions to the Dakar Rally where he finished second a week ago.

However, this morning Leb countered the first lap of the three specialists in the Mercantour National Park in the French Alps. The nine-time world champion won all three to equal 925 specialist wins in his WRC career and took the lead in today’s third (ED5 of the match), as Ozier.

The champion – probably with some uncertainty due to the contact of the Yaris R1 with the barrier in the morning – opted for a very cautious tactic on the ice, which cost him 15.8 seconds and thus not only the lead of the general, but also the second place from his Toyota colleague Elfyn Evans.

With that, Lemb returned to his usual captivity, in first place of the general – and that during the second loop of the same three specialists with no duty in between until the end of today, except for a tire change point.

“I feel really good, the performance is great and the feeling of this car is great,” said Leb, who, among other things, gave the Ford Puma R1 its first three World Cup Specials victories.

Unlike Leb, Evans has struggled to adapt to the new hybrid Yaris Rally1, losing 11.2 seconds to Ozier last night. The Welshman said he struggled to spot traction on the road and escaped a wild slip. Gradually, however, he began to gain a foothold in the 5th Special, although he had a night of bickering, he made it through the second year and rose to the same position in the general.

Today was also marked by Adrien Formo’s serious accident with one of the four Puma Rally1. The Frenchman made an impressive start yesterday and was 4th overall, 15” behind Ozier, but today that changed. During the special morning run, he slid into a left-hand bend, hit the opposite slope and then landed 30 meters deeper in the gorge with constant rollovers.

Furmo and his co-driver Alexander Koria escaped unharmed, but the Puma R1 was able to return to the race badly damaged. In fact, only the safety cage remained, proving the steps taken to improve the safety of this year’s new generation of vehicles.

For Hyundai, the start of the hybrid era was quite problematic and difficult. Ott Tanak first had problems with the hybrid and then with the hydraulics, but in the 4th special stage he threw it all away and wrote the second year.

For his part, Thierry Neville made a conservative choice of hard tires last night to get his 20 soft tires over the next three days. But the Belgian hasn’t found the settings he wants in the i20 N Rally1, at least so far.

Like Formo, M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith was in the top five yesterday, but an issue with the Puma R1 hybrid system eventually saw him drop to 7th this afternoon. On the contrary, fifth place went to his counterpart Craig Brin, who started to get used to Puma a bit today and overtook Tanak in the process.

Eventually, Cale Rovanpera was pushed down to 9th overall, nearly two minutes from Leb and his Toyota counterparts. “I think the balance of the car makes it a bit difficult for me to drive. I tried to adjust everything I could, but when the setup is a bit of a recoil, it’s very difficult for me to drive,” explained the Finn.

2022 Monte Carlo Rally – ED5

1. Lamp (M-Sport Ford) 54: 40.9
2. Evans (Toyota) +10.6
3. Ozie (Toyota) +13.0
4. Νεβίλ (Hyundai) +40.2
5. Μπριν (M-Sport Ford) +46.0
6. Τάνακ (Hyundai) +48.3
7. Γκρίνμιθ (M Sport Ford) +56.5
8. Toyota +1: 23.5
9. Rovanpera (Toyota) +1: 58.8
10. Solberg (Hyundai) +2: 03.1