Sébastien Ogier began his quest for a fifth straight World Rally title by claiming victory during a dramatic Rallye Monte Carlo, triumphing on his debut with M-Sport.
Ogier had tumbled towards the foot of the top 10 after a mistake on Friday’s opening stage but quickly fought back to second, behind dominant leader Thierry Neuville.
Neuville controlled the rally but a minor mistake on Saturday’s final run left him with damage to his Hyundai’s suspension, and he lost over half an hour, squandering his chance of victory.
Ogier consequently inherited the lead and completed Sunday’s final three stages (a fourth was cancelled on safety grounds) to win first time out with M-Sport.
It is M-Sport’s first victory in the championship since 2012, having recruited Ogier in the wake of Volkswagen’s shock exit from the category.
“To be honest I expected to have a victory one day, to have it for the first race, with only one month together, it really feels amazing,” said Ogier, who won in Monte Carlo for a fifth time, having escaped two wild moments on Saturday.
"I’m really happy, thank you so much to the team, they’ve been amazing, they worked so hard to be ready, the victory is well deserved."
M-Sport had looked set for a dream 1-2 finish but Ott Tänak’s Fiesta developed an engine problem on SS14, leaving him to compete on only two cylinders.
Tänak tried to make repairs between stages but consequently arrived to SS15 late and was handed a penalty; the problem was not fixed and further lost time dropped the Estonian behind Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala.
Latvala therefore finished as runner-up, behind former team-mate Ogier, delivering a surprise podium for Toyota on its return to the championship, following a mature performance.
Tänak entered the final stage in third place and, despite the recurring issue, held onto the podium position, in front of Hyundai’s Dani Sordo and Citroën’s Craig Breen.
Sordo had jumped ahead of Breen on SS15, having set the quickest overall time on SS14, and extended that gap on the Power Stage to secure fourth place, with Breen fifth in Citroën's old-specification DS3.
DMACK-shod Elfyn Evans was sixth overall, some way behind the Sordo/Breen scrap.
Neuville was able to salvage five points for the quickest Power Stage time, ostensibly aided by running early, as conditions deteriorated due to increasing levels of snow and ice on the road.
Andreas Mikkelsen, unable to secure a WRC seat after Volkswagen’s exit, took honours in the WRC2 class, finishing seventh overall, ahead of Jan Kopecký.
Citroën’s Stéphane Lefebvre placed second in the Power Stage, bagging four points, and moved to ninth overall, in front of Bryan Bouffier, who beat Pontus Tidemand by just seven seconds.
Lefebvre's team-mate, Kris Meeke, did not start Sunday's stages after being involved in a collision during the road section on Saturday evening, compounding a difficult weekend in which he sustained suspension damage and encountered an engine glitch.
