Flying Frenchman Yohan Rossel stormed past Pepe López and Nikolay Gryazin on Sunday to claim back-to-back Rallye Monte-Carlo victories in WRC2.
Starting Sunday’s final leg 6.9sec behind his Citroën C3 Rally2 team-mate Gryazin, Rossel clawed back 3.9sec from the Bulgarian in frosty conditions on the opening stage, matching López’s time.
With boosted confidence, Rossel continued his charge, outpacing López’s Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 by 5.8sec and Gryazin by 8.6sec on the penultimate stage. This propelled the 28-year-old to within two-tenths of a second behind López going into the rally-ending Wolf Power Stage, and also relegated Gryazin to third.
Maintaining his momentum, Rossel completed a clean sweep of stage wins to claim victory by 4.0sec over López despite having worn out his car’s tyres. He expressed his elation, stating, “It’s crazy; it’s an incredible feeling.”
López not only improved on his 2023 Monte-Carlo result but also became the inaugural recipient of the FORUM8 WRC2 Stage winner award for winning the most stages during the rally.
Gryazin took the third spot 11.4sec behind, with fourth-placed Hyundai i20 N Rally2 driver Nicolas Ciamin ending more than four minutes behind the podium. Stéphane Lefebvre and Jan Solans, both driving brand-new Toyota Yaris GR Rally2s, rounded out the top 6.
Swiss veteran Oliver Burri, competing in his 25th Rallye Monte-Carlo, secured seventh place while Mauro Miele claimed eighth and topped the WRC Masters Cup contingent. In WRC3, Jan Černý dominated in his Ford Fiesta Rally3, finishing more than 10 minutes ahead of Ghjuvanni Rossi.
