WRC 3
Royère wins but Fontana steals WRC3 spotlight
Eric Royère claimed his maiden WRC3 win on Sunday at Rallye Monte-Carlo, but there was only one WRC3 driver that everyone was talking about – Matteo Fontana.
The reigning WRC3 champion Fontana created history in his Ford Fiesta Rally3, becoming the first-ever driver in Rally3 machinery to win an overall FIA World Rally Championship stage. He achieved the feat on Sunday’s opening test, leaving him almost speechless at stage end. “Wow, it’s amazing! Wow, it is incredible,” he expressed, high-fiving co-driver Alessandro Arnaboldi.
Drivers awoke on Sunday morning to a snow-blanketed winter paradise, forcing those at the front of the field to approach the opening two stages with extreme caution, creating a significantly cleaner line for each proceeding car. By the time Fontana, running 36th on the road, started the stage conditions had improved dramatically.
The 22-year-old took full advantage and not content with taking just one stage win, he miraculously repeated the feat on the very next stage, to also take the lead in the Super Sunday standings ahead of the likes of Adrien Fourmaux and Elfyn Evans.
Eric Royère on his way to WRC3 victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo
© At World
On the second running of the two stages, the Rally1 and Rally2 cars significantly increased their speed, seeing Fontana drop out of the Super Sunday points but he would still complete the final leg of the rally as the sixth-fastest overall driver.
Despite his Sunday heroics, Fontana failed to rein in the Fiesta of Royère, who started the final day with a 12min 34sec advantage over Fontana on account of the Italian twice restarting after offs on both Thursday and Friday night in the dark.
Remarkably, Fontana was still able to close the gap to Royère to just 3min 59.1sec by the completion of Sunday.
Having held a commanding lead on Friday night, former Rallye Monte-Carlo WRC3 runner-up Ghjuvanni Rossi ultimately had to settle for the final spot on the podium after retirement on Saturday forced the Frenchman to restart in his Fiesta on Sunday.
