Gilbert mantains JWRC advantage
Frenchman leads as closest challenger retires
Lefebvre holds off Koci in WRC 2
Stéphane Lefebvre and Martin Koci remained virtually inseparable in their fight for WRC 2 honours during Friday’s second leg of Rallye Monte-Carlo, but it was reigning Junior WRC champion Lefebvre who retained the advantage.
The Frenchman’s lead was reduced to 1.7sec by the Slovakian this morning, despite Koci puncturing in SS4. However, Lefebvre held on through the afternoon in his DS 3 R5 to end the day 6.5sec clear.
“It was a good day for us,” said Lefebvre. “This morning I lost time to Koci, but this afternoon I pushed him a little.”
Koci admitted he was surprised by his speed on his first outing in Citroen’s DS 3 R5. “We came here to try to be in the top five, or to be competitive. It’s my first time here and my first time in the car and I’ve really enjoyed myself,” he said.
Quentin Giordano was third until he hit a wall in the penultimate stage and broke his DS 3’s rear left suspension, sliding to ninth.
It allowed Julien Maurin into third in a Ford Fiesta R5, but he clipped a rock in the final test and slipped behind Armin Kremer into fourth. The gap between the duo is 9.7sec.
Craig Breen is fifth in a Peugeot 208, despite a puncture and differential problems this morning, and rookie Hendrik Lategan completes the top six.
