The 2024 Monte Carlo, also known as the 92 Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, kicked off on Thursday night amid thrill.
The four-day event, to be held from 25th to 28th January, is taking place in Provence-Alps- Cote d’Azur in France.
The rally marks the ninety-second running of the rally and will be the first round of the 2024 World Rally Championship, 1, 2 and 3 consisting of seventeen special stages covering a total competitive distance of 324.44km.
Elfyn Evans has taken an early lead in the rally, taking advantage of optimal tire strategy and running first on the road to build a 15.1 seconds advantage after only two stages.
Evans was 5.2 seconds faster than everyone else, despite an early scare where he thought he hadn’t used the entire available grip.
The Toyota’s de facto team leader had the optimal tire strategy, running a full set of softs throughout the loop as the other challengers compromised and used at least one super soft tire on each stage.
Pirelli’s super soft compound was on paper the inferior slick tire for the conditions, due to uncharacteristically high temperatures of up to 17 degrees up in the mountains- with zero snow or ice in sight.
Tanak and Neuville were second and third fastest on Throad and Saint- Geniez respectively but dropped back on the second test, Bayons/ Breziers.
Catch all the action from the Monte Carlo Rallye on KBC channel
John Njuguna
