SS18: Power
Stage glory for
Loeb

Stage data: SS18, Ste Agnes-Col de la Madone (5.16 kilometres)

Event winner Sebastien Loeb has secured maximum World Rally Championship points on Rallye Monte-Carlo by securing three bonus points with victory on the event-closing Power Stage in his Citroen DS3 WRC.

Loeb took 3m27.8s to complete the challenging stage with team-mate Mikko Hirvonen second fastest, 1.2s slower than Loeb, to bag two bonus points. M-Sport Ford Fiesta driver Evgeny Novikov rounded out at an impressive Rallye Monte-Carlo debut with his first Power Stage point in third.

Ford driver Petter Solberg’s outright pace was restricted having to run three used winter tyres and one winter tyre. Nevertheless he made it through to secure third overall.

Pierre Campana completed the tight and twisty test, held in dry and mild conditions, with a small powersteering problem on his factory MINI. He was ninth fastest as a result, 10.1s down on Loeb.

Czech Martin Prokop fended off MINI privateer Armindo Araujo in the battle for ninth place overall in his Fiesta by going three seconds faster than the Portuguese through the stage. Prokop was fifth quickest, 4.4s adrift of stage winner Loeb’s pace.

Francois Delecour, who finished sixth overall, handed driving duties to co-driver Dominique Savignoni for the stage to mark Savignoni’s retirement from the sport. Savignoni’s time was 52.2s slower than the fastest run.