The front-runners took slightly different tyre choices for the morning loop, adding extra spice to the competition. The road conditions seemed to improve car by car as the temperature rose and icy spots thawed. Regardless, Rovanperä’s drive was exceptional. The Finnish driver bested Thierry Neuville, who was leading after Thursday, by more than 22 seconds and cut his gap to the leader in half.
Rovanperä remains sixth overall, but his deficit to the top is now just 22.4 seconds.
“There is not a big difference inside the car, maybe we are better or worse with the studded tyres on these conditions this morning. At the end there was more difference on the ice notes than the beginning, the beginning wasn’t icy but the end was changing a lot. I would say that is the trickiest one,” Rovanperä said.
Neuville slipped to second place, with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans taking the lead. The gap between the two is only 0.8 seconds in favor of the Welshman. Sebastien Ogier is third, four seconds behind Evans.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak also started strong, sitting fourth overall, just ahead of teammate Adrien Fourmaux.
“It’s super difficult conditions, I must say information this time was quite good. Very difficult in places to know how fast to go. In Monte-Carlo you are not surprised about anything, it is normal to take large chunks of time out of rivals,” Tänak summarized.
“It is not easy. First on the road, no lies. Lots of surprises. I did get some rhythm but the car did not have a lot of grip. I was always losing the balance, so not easy,” Neuville added.
Surprisingly, M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster set the second-fastest time on the fourth stage. Running without any studded tyres, his choice paid off as he trailed Rovanperä’s top time by just 1.4 seconds. Toyota’s Sami Pajari was third fastest on the stage.
“It’s stupid to say, but halfway through I was sure I had a puncture. I slowed down quite a bit and lost time there,” Pajari commented.
Munster sits seventh overall, followed by Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Pajari. Among the Rally2 cars, Skoda’s Nikolay Gryazin leads Citroën’s Yohan Rossel. Gryazin isn’t competing for WRC2 points in Monte-Carlo, so Rossel leads his class ahead of Eric Camilli and his brother Leo Rossel.
Monte-Carlo will see five more stages on Friday. The rally concludes on Sunday.
Rally Monte-Carlo standings after SS4/18:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | 44:58.6 |
| 2. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +0.8 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +4.0 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +12.2 |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +16.6 |
| 6. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +22.4 |
| 7. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +28.7 |
| 8. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +1:00.2 |
| 9. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +1:06.5 |
| 10. | Nikolay Gryazin | Skoda | +2:09.6 |
| 11. | Yohan Rossel | Citroen | +2:28.5 |
| 12. | Josh McErlean | Ford | +2:59.2 |
Itinerary, Rally Monte-Carlo (CET):
Wednesday 22.1.
16.01 Shakedown: Route de la Garde (3,30 km)
Thursday 23.1.
18.05 SS1: Digne-les-Bains / Chaudon-Norante 1 (19,00 km)
19.53 SS2: Faucon-du-Caire / Bréziers (21,20 km)
21.06 SS3: Avançon / Notre-Dame-du-Laus 1 (14,00 km)
Friday 24.1.
09.31 SS4: Saint-Maurice / Aubessagne 1 (18,70 km)
10.34 SS5: Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes / La Bâtie-Neuve 1 (16,70 km)
11.42 SS6: La Bréole / Selonnet 1 (18,30 km)
15.23 SS7: Saint-Maurice / Aubessagne 2 (18,70 km)
16.26 SS8: Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes / La Bâtie-Neuve 2 (16,70 km)
17.34 SS9: La Bréole / Selonnet 2 (18,30 km)
Saturday 25.1.
08.59 SS10: La Motte-Chalancon / Saint-Nazaire 1 (27,00 km)
10.05 SS11: Aucelon / Recoubeau-Jansac 1 (20,90 km)
11.08 SS12: La Bâtie-des-Fonts / Aspremont 1 (17,90 km)
14.59 SS13: La Motte-Chalancon / Saint-Nazaire 2 (27,00 km)
16.05 SS14: Aucelon / Recoubeau-Jansac 2 (20,90 km)
17.08 SS15: La Bâtie-des-Fonts / Aspremont 2 (17,90 km)
Sunday 26.1.
06.39 SS16: Avançon / Notre-Dame-du-Laus 2 (14,00 km)
08.32 SS17: Digne-les-Bains / Chaudon-Norante 2 (19,00 km)
12.15 SS18: La Bollène-Vésubie / Peïra-Cava (Power Stage) (17,90 km)
