SS15: One slip-up for Oliver Solberg – team-mate seized the opportunity

Toyota’s Oliver Solberg still holds a solid lead in the Rally Monte Carlo.

Ville Hirvonen

25/01/2026,
10:43

However, Solberg had a small heart-stopping moment on the first climb of Turini, when the Swedish driver ran one braking point long.

Solberg lost just over 10 seconds there, but regrouped superbly after his mistake. In the end, Solberg finished 8.8 seconds behind his team-mate Elfyn Evans.

“I had a small spin under braking into a hairpin. They are really easy to make. I lost at least ten seconds there, but nothing serious. When you’re leading like this, it’s not very enjoyable,” Solberg summed up at the finish of the stage.

Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux was now on good pace. He set the second-fastest time on the stage, finishing 7.5 seconds behind Evans’s fastest time. Sébastien Ogier was fourth quickest and lost 13.9 seconds to Evans’s benchmark.

“It wasn’t much fun. We drove really slowly on the way down. I’m just trying to get this rally to the finish,” Ogier said.

The Turini climb will be run once more on Sunday, as it serves as the rally-ending Power Stage. Evans did not yet want to speculate too much about the finale of the rally.

“Who knows what the Power Stage will be like. Really difficult,” Evans said.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville had problems. He stopped to change a tyre already at the start of the stage and later hit a rock as well. In the overall standings, the Belgian is fifth.

Evans was now able to close the gap to Solberg’s lead after the Swede made a driving error. After the first stage of the morning, Solberg’s lead was still over 50 seconds, but now the Welshman managed to reduce the gap to exactly 42 seconds. Ogier continues in third, with a deficit of just over one minute and 37 seconds to the lead. Adrien Fourmaux is fourth.

On Sunday, two more special stages will be contested in the Monte Carlo World Rally Championship. Solberg is on the verge of a historic achievement, as no Swedish driver has ever before won the legendary Monte Carlo World Rally Championship overall.

Monte Carlo World Rally Championship standings after SS15/17:

POS	Driver	Car	Time
1.	Oliver Solberg	Toyota	3:54.04.2
2.	Elfyn Evans	Toyota	+42.0
3.	Sebastien Ogier	Toyota	+1:37.8
4.	Adrien Fourmaux	Hyundai	+5:53.1
5.	Thierry Neuville	Hyundai	+9:39.8
6.	Jon Armstrong	Ford	+10:23.5
7.	Leo Rossel	Citroen	+11:17.1
8.	Takamoto Katsuta	Toyota	+12:12.3
9.	Roberto Dabra	Skoda	+13:13.6