The Hyundai driver made the right tyre choice and recorded the fastest time by a clear margin, beating teammate Adrien Fourmaux by 6.9 seconds.
“This one is not a comfortable stage, we had a good tyre choice for this one,” Tänak said.
Tänak remains in fifth place overall, but he’s now closing in on Kalle Rovanperä. The Toyota driver was 14.2 seconds slower than Tänak’s benchmark time. In the overall standings, Tänak is now just 2.9 seconds behind Rovanperä.
“A pretty s**t stage in nature and very dirty. We lost too much time, but it can’t be helped,” Rovanperä admitted.
“This kind of slow and narrow is always s****y for me, I never really enjoy it. The downhill was very slippery, lots of pollution, lot more than expected.”
Toyota lost its double lead on this stage, as Fourmaux jumped ahead of Elfyn Evans into second place overall. Veteran French driver Sebastien Ogier still leads the rally by 12.3 seconds over his compatriot Fourmaux.
Ogier was ultimately 13 seconds off Tänak’s remarkable stage time.
“Very dirty stage, was on the safe side a little bit,” Ogier reported.
The Rally Monte-Carlo continues Saturday with four more stages. The event concludes on Sunday.
Rally Monte-Carlo standings after SS11/18:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | 1:54:19.9 |
| 2. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +12.3 |
| 3. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +12.8 |
| 4. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +40.7 |
| 5. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +43.6 |
| 6. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +1:37.6 |
| 7. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +3:43.2 |
| 8. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +5:07.3 |
| 9. | Yohan Rossel | Citroen | +6:14.1 |
| 10. | Nikolay Gryazin | Skoda | +6:44.0 |
| 11. | Josh McErlean | Ford | +6:47.0 |
Itinerary, Rally Monte-Carlo (CET):
Wednesday 22.1. 16.01 Shakedown: Route de la Garde (3,28 km) Thursday 23.1. 18.05 SS1: Digne-les-Bains / Chaudon-Norante 1 (19.01 km) 19.53 SS2: Faucon-du-Caire / Bréziers (21.18 km) 21.06 SS3: Avançon / Notre-Dame-du-Laus 1 (13.97 km) Friday 24.1. 09.31 SS4: Saint-Maurice / Aubessagne 1 (18.68 km) 10.34 SS5: Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes / La Bâtie-Neuve 1 (16.68 km) *CANCELLED 11.42 SS6: La Bréole / Selonnet 1 (18.31 km) 15.23 SS7: Saint-Maurice / Aubessagne 2 (18.68 km) 16.26 SS8: Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes / La Bâtie-Neuve 2 (16.68 km) 17.34 SS9: La Bréole / Selonnet 2 (18.31 km) Saturday 25.1. 08.59 SS10: La Motte-Chalancon / Saint-Nazaire 1 (27.00 km) 10.05 SS11: Aucelon / Recoubeau-Jansac 1 (20.85 km) 11.08 SS12: La Bâtie-des-Fonts / Aspremont 1 (15.48 km) 14.59 SS13: La Motte-Chalancon / Saint-Nazaire 2 (27.00 km) 16.05 SS14: Aucelon / Recoubeau-Jansac 2 (15.48 km) 17.08 SS15: La Bâtie-des-Fonts / Aspremont 2 (17.85 km) Sunday 26.1. 06.39 SS16: Avançon / Notre-Dame-du-Laus 2 (13.97 km) 08.32 SS17: Digne-les-Bains / Chaudon-Norante 2 (19.01 km) 12.15 SS18: La Bollène-Vésubie / Peïra-Cava (17.92 km) *Power Stage
