The Toyota star started the opening round of the championship with impressive pace, setting the fastest times on the first two stages despite not having the most favorable road position.
However, the final stage of the night almost spelled trouble for the eight-time world champion. Ogier ran wide in a corner, nudging the rear of his Toyota into a bank. The incident caused a partial spin, but he managed to continue with only around 20 seconds lost.
“There was a bit more gravel, and the place was a bit over a crest. It was hard to see the apex. I was maybe a little bit off-line, and a little bit too much in the gravel,” Ogier recounted.
“I basically lost the rear of the car and went a bit into the ditch. I hit something like a little pole, but it struck just the middle of the car, so there was no real damage. I just had to find reverse and try to go again.”
Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala observed that Ogier was fortunate not to face worse consequences.
“He was very lucky that the sill didn’t catch, causing the car to roll in that situation,” Latvala said.
Due to the incident, Ogier dropped to third overall. Heading into Friday’s stages, defending champion Thierry Neuville leads the Rally Monte-Carlo by two seconds over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans. Ogier sits 12.8 seconds off the lead.
“We could be in the lead, but I think we can still be happy. We knew that starting after a couple of cars would not be helpful for being fast. And still, the speed was good,” Ogier noted.
“So obviously, we had to take some risks because of that. And I was not completely rewarded tonight for it. But I’ll keep trying tomorrow.”
The Rally Monte-Carlo continues on Friday with six stages.
