F1News.ru doesn’t often talk about rallies and rally drivers, except in those cases where one of the Formula 1 drivers, current or former, takes the start of such competitions, and sometimes at the highest level. This is exactly what happened to Kimi Raikkonen once, now the rally car is driven by Valtteri Bottas for his own pleasure, and Heikki Kovalainen finally moved into this category of motorsport this year.
But today is a special occasion: Sébastien Ogier, eight-time world rally champion, has set a new record: he won the legendary Rallye Monte-Carlo for the ninth time, which no one has ever succeeded before.
It must be assumed that it is somewhat easier for him than for many rivals, because he was born and raised in those parts where the circuit of the classic race passes. This weekend, Sebastien again proved his class driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1: on Thursday, together with co-driver Vincent Lande, he set the best time in the night special stages in the French Alps, and on Friday he increased their lead, making they could further control the course of the rally .
On Sunday, Ogier rode the remaining four special stages flawlessly to win the rally. With the young Finn Kalle Rovanperä, who also plays for the factory team of the Japanese concern, finishing second, Toyota starts the 2023 season with a winning double.
Third in the rally was Thierry Neuville, driving a Hyundai i20 N.
Moscow fans may remember Sebastien from the demonstration drives he did in the summer of 2011 as part of the Moscow City Racing show.
He then played for the Citroën team and was still on his way to his main achievements, but he already declared himself confident and began to win races. Then we spoke to him in an interview mode, which was interesting to read again now, almost 12 years later, when the 39-year-old Ogier is already thinking about retirement and only performing in certain stages of the WRC.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
