Ogier Wins Rallye Monte-Carlo

The 2013 World Rally champion Sébastien Ogier picked up right where he left over by winning the wet and snowy 2014 Rallye Monte-Carlo. The Frenchman won the first two stages on the day and after the cancellation of the fourteenth stage, finished second to teammate Jari-Matti Latvala in the final stage. It's Ogier's second time winning the Rallye Monte-Carlo but first time winning it as a World Rally Championship event. He won the famed race in 2009 when it was apart of the International Rally Championship.

Bryan Bouffier finished second, 1 minute and 18.9 seconds off his fellow countryman. Bouffier will not be competing in the next round, Rally Sweden as Estonian Ott Tänak and Pole Michał Sołowow are entered by M-Sport Ford. Kris Meeke scored his first career WRC podium with his third place finish. The Northern Irish driver held off his Citroën teammate Mads Østberg by just under two minutes.

Latvala finished fifth and picked up three stage victories over the three days. Elfyn Evans finished sixth in his first Rallye Monte-Carlo. The third Volkswagen of Andreas Mikkelsen finished seventh. Slovakian Jaroslav Melichárek, Italian Matteo Gamba and Ukrainian, WRC2 driver Yuriy Protasov rounded out the points.

Mikko Hirvonen was running sixth but a mechanical failure on the final stage cost the Finn a hard fought points position.

Ogier leads with 27 points after finishing second and picking up two points on the power stage. Bouffier is second with 18 points. Meeke is third with 16 points after finishing third on the power stage and earning one bonus point. Latvala won the three points from the power stage and in doing so has 13 points, one more than Østberg who rounds out the top five.

The next round of the 2014 WRC season is Rally Sweden and will take place in three weeks, February 5-8th. Last year, Ogier became only the second non-Nordic driver to win the famed snow-covered rally, joining Sébastien Loeb as the only two to do so. Latvala and Hirvonen each have two Rally Sweden victories. The last Swede to win the event was Kenneth Erikkson in 1997 and the last Swede to podium was Daniel Carlsson in a privateer entry in 2006.