Hyundai’s Ott Tänak has not been able to master them as he would have liked. The Estonian sits in fifth place after Friday’s stages.
During the day, Tänak couldn’t match the pace of rally leader Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier, nor that of his new teammate Adrien Fourmaux.
The most important thing for Tänak, however, was that he stayed on the road. While he did slip into a ditch during Friday morning and damaged his car’s rear end, he was able to carry on and finish the day safely.
“I don’t know how safe it was, but we’re here,” Tänak quipped at the end of the day.
“So, yeah, this afternoon it was a bit of a struggle to find the rhythm. Somehow it didn’t feel right in the car. Before the last stage, we made some setup changes that might not have been ideal. But after that, the car actually felt a bit better. Now we just need to get back into a faster rhythm,” Tänak reflected.
Monte’s conditions have remained wildly unpredictable throughout the rally.
“There have definitely been lots of condition changes, even between the first and second loops. You can’t really predict the conditions. Today (Friday) we’ve seen just about everything – from dry tarmac to black ice.”
“The grip levels vary hugely within the same stage, which makes it really tricky. In the end, you just have to rely on the information you have, trust it, and push on,” Tänak admitted.
Teammate Fourmaux handled the conditions better, despite his limited experience with the Hyundai. The Frenchman is currently sitting in an impressive third place – and leading the Hyundai pack.
“We didn’t make any mistakes with the tires today, and our pace was really good,” Fourmaux said.
“We got back on the podium today. We’re still quite close to the lead. There’s a long way to go, but I’m really pleased with where we are right now,” he continued.
Fourmaux is even in the hunt for victory – something few would have predicted. After all, Monte is undoubtedly one of the toughest events on the calendar.
“I think every driver wants to win the Rally Monte Carlo. Actually, it’s not my target. There’s still a long way to go. We’ll see on Sunday where we are. For now, I just want to maintain my pace and see how things stand then,” Fourmaux explained.
Whether or not Fourmaux takes the Monte victory, he can take pride in one thing: he has been his team’s top performer so far.
“To be honest, for the team, it’s quite a shame. But for us, it’s a positive outcome,” Fourmaux noted.
Rally Monte-Carlo continues on Saturday with six stages, and the event wraps up on Sunday.
