Pajari had already retired once on Thursday evening after going off the road, but was able to continue the rally on Friday. On the penultimate stage on Saturday, things quite literally went from bad to worse when Pajari went off again and retired.
The Finnish driver had been driving cautiously all day, yet the car still slid off the road once more.
The rally leader Oliver Solberg also caused some heart-stopping moments when he briefly ended up in a field right at the end of the stage. Solberg lost control of the car, but fortunately ended up in a field where he was able to turn the car around and return to the road. Around 15 seconds were lost, but despite that Solberg still set the fastest time by 1.9 seconds over the rally’s second-placed driver Elfyn Evans.
“I don’t know what happened, I was so careful the whole stage. I tried to follow the ruts and on the exit there was just full snow. I was very lucky to get out of it. The time means I could have backed off more” Solberg admitted.
The multiple-time winner of the rally, Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier, gave up the fight in the extremely difficult conditions. Ogier lost 18.2 seconds to the fastest time and is already one and a half minutes behind Solberg. Evans, who is in second place, has also extended his advantage over Ogier to 26.6 seconds.
“I backed off. Not wanted to go for it in that condition. Basically undriveable,” Ogier said.
“Unbelievable. You think it’s improving, but you jest get the nervous twitch from the car. People always say it’s the worst stage, this one was very close to that,” Evans commented.
Fourth in the rally is Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux ahead of his team-mate Thierry Neuville. Sixth place is held by M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong. Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon lost five minutes on the stage due to going off the road and dropped out of the top ten.
There was also drama in the WRC2 class battle for the lead when Nikolai Gryazin went off and was forced to retire. That strengthened Citroën driver Léo Rossel’s lead in the class.
There is still one short city stage to be run at the Rally Monte Carlo on Saturday. The rally concludes on Sunday.
Rally Monte Carlo standings after SS12/17:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Oliver Solberg | Toyota | 3:14:03.9 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +1:04.7 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +1:31.3 |
| 4. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +6:13.8 |
| 5. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +7:29.5 |
| 6. | Jon Armstrong | Ford | +10:06.1 |
| 7. | Leo Rossel | Citroen | +11:01.8 |
| 8. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +11:24.8 |
| 9. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +11:47.1 |
| 10. | Roberto Dabra | Skoda | +12:29.5 |
Rally Monte Carlo itinerary (CET):
Wednesday 21 January
14:01 Shakedown: Gap (4.25 km)
Thursday 22 January
16:05 SS1: Toudon / Saint-Antonin (21.90 km)
18:35 SS2: Esclangon / Seyne-les-Alpes (23.80 km)
20:35 SS3: Vaumeilh / Claret 1 (15.06 km)
Friday 23 January
09:04 SS4: Laborel / Chauvac-Laux-Montaux 1 (17.95 km)
10:32 SS5: Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert / La Motte-Chalancon 1 (28.70 km)
11:50 SS6: La-Bâtie-des-Fonts / Aspremont 1 (17.79 km)
13:25 Service (33 min)
15:16 SS7: Laborel / Chauvac-Laux-Montaux 2 (17.95 km)
16:44 SS8: Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert / La Motte-Chalancon 2 (28.70 km)
18:05 SS9: La-Bâtie-des-Fonts / Aspremont 2 (17.79 km)
Saturday 24 January
08:31 SS10: La Bréole / Bellaffaire 1 (29.93 km)
09:55 SS11: Vaumeilh / Claret 2 (15.06 km)
11:15 Service (33 min)
12:31 SS12: La Bréole / Bellaffaire 2 (29.93 km)
14:00 Remote service (20 min)
18:35 SS13: Monaco Circuit (2.69 km)
Sunday 25 January
08:05 SS14: Col de Braus / La Cabanette 1 (12.50 km)
09:35 SS15: La Bollène-Vésubie / Moulinet 1 (23.45 km)
11:09 SS16: Col de Braus / La Cabanette 2 (12.50 km)
13:15 SS17: La Bollène-Vésubie / Moulinet 2 (23.45 km) *Power Stage
