Monte Carlo WRC: Ogier fends off Meeke to end Day 2 on top

The Frenchman continued to battle with Citroen driver Kris Meeke out front, first beating him by five seconds in SS6 and then surrendering the overall lead in SS7.

However, Ogier fought back to go 10.3s faster than the Briton through the final test of the day, taking a solid advantage into Saturday.

"A great battle with Kris today," Ogier commented. "He's driving well. I'm happy with my day. Some small mistakes here and there and now I think I have a slow puncture on the left rear. I'm happy though."

Jari-Matti Latvala took advantage of a spin from Volkswagen teammate Andreas Mikkelsen in SS7 to complete the day in third, with the Norwegian dropping back to fourth.

Mikkelsen was followed by Thierry Neuville and Mads Ostberg, albeit the former admitted to struggling throughout the afternoon due to a wrong tyre choice.

Dani Sordo was seventh, more than three minutes off Ogier’s pace, while the Fords of Bryan Bouffier and Ott Tanak were further two minutes behind, the Estonian temporarily stopping at SS6.

WRC debutant Eric Camilli failed to make it past SS6, having slid off and retired at the same place Robert Kubica did in the stage’s morning run.

Standings after SS8:

Pos.	Driver / Co-Driver	Car	Time/Delay
1	Sebastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia	VW	1h29m06.1s
2	Kris Meeke Paul Nagle	Citroen	9.5s
3	Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila	VW	1m08.1s
4	Andreas Mikkelsen Anders Jaeger	VW	1m33.8s
5	Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai	1m47.8s
6	Mads Ostberg Ola Floene	Ford	2m18.5s
7	Dani Sordo Marc Marti	Hyundai	3m07.8s
8	Stephane Lefebvre Gabin Moreau	Citroen	3m32.0s
9	Bryan Bouffier Victor Bellotto	Ford	4m18.6s
10	Ott Tanak Raigo Molder	Ford	5m25.8s