Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson continued where they left off on Friday, leading Rallye Monte Carlo by 59.3 seconds over Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin while Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais hold third, 1:25.3 off the lead.
The day started with the longest stage of the rally, La Bréole / Bellaffaire, which lived up to its reputation on its first pass. Entirely covered by snow and ice, the 29.93km test demanded restraint as much as speed.
Nine-time world champion Ogier mastered the conditions to take the stage win and more than halve Evans’ advantage in their fight for second overall. Solberg, meanwhile, opted for a measured approach, setting the fourth-fastest time and seeing his overnight buffer trimmed to 51.4sec.
With conditions evolving quickly and visibility poor in places, Solberg delivered a decisive response, winning SS11 by 11.4sec to stretch his lead back out to 1min 02.8sec heading into mid-leg service in Gap.
“The studs are working now, it’s a bit more easy,” Solberg explained. “I felt a little more comfortable in there.”
Evans also regained momentum in the fight for second, outpacing Ogier by 7.3sec on SS11 to open a 10.3sec gap between the pair.
Adrien Fourmaux continued his consistent run in his Hyundai in fourth overall, while Thierry Neuville remained fifth as he focused on rebuilding confidence following his off-road moment late on Friday.
After tyre issues on the opening stage of the morning, Jon Armstrong’s form improved following set-up changes, allowing the M-Sport Ford driver to consolidate sixth overall. Hayden Paddon maintained a cautious but controlled approach in seventh.
In WRC2, Léo Rossel retained the class lead but saw his advantage trimmed to just 15.7sec over Nikolay Gryazin, who continues to impress on his Lancia Rally2 debut. Takamoto Katsuta, meanwhile, fought his way back up to 10th overall after being slowed by power steering problems on Friday.
Stage 12 was another icy, slushy, snowy ribbon of tarmac hell. Gregoire Munster had a spin but recovered with a minimal time loss and climbed to eighth overall.
Haydon Paddon fared somewhat worse; he understeered helplessly over the side of a hill but with a crowd of enthusiastic spectators on hand, he eventually made his way back to the road, but the time lost saw him plummeted six positions in the standings to 13th.
Nikolay Gryazin had a near identical moment, landing well down the side of a hill, but with no spectators around, it was game over.
The final stage was a bit surreal, watching rally cars on the Grand Prix circuit. Rain was teeming down, getting heavier as each car passed. The short 2.69km stage was won by Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria, giving Hyundai their first stage win of the season.
Leo Rossel continues to lead Rally2 in his Citroen C3, holding a strong seventh overall, heading both Munster and Katsuta while Robert Dapra rounds out the top 10.
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