MOTORSPORT
Ogier takes first blood in rally season opener
World Rally Championship leader secures his sixth straight win at Rally Monte-Carlo
Current WRCchampion Sébastien Ogier put in a heroic drive on snow, ice and dry tar in the French Alps on his first return to Citroën, securinghis sixth straight win at Rallye Monte Carlo on Sunday. He fended off a determined Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) by just 2.2 seconds, one of the closest finishes yet in world rallying. “It ’s the rally I want to win the most in the season, that’s why I’m so happy now,” said Ogier,whose home town of Gap hosted the opening three days of the rally. “Six years in a row with threedifferent cars — that ’s not so bad!” he added. Neuville could only reflect on a second-day overshoot that cost 15 seconds and, ultimately, victory. “It was a close fight, butwe gave him a nice present on Friday when we made a mistakeand gave him the lead,” he said. Third place went to Ott Tänakin a Toyota Yaris. After a cleans weep of four stage wins on Saturday,the Estonian’s luck ranout when a broken wheel rim on Friday cost him almost 2 minutes 30 seconds. Nine-times worl...
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