Yohan Rossel claims dominant WRC2 victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo

Yohan Rossel opened his WRC2 campaign with a decisive victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo, steering his Citroën C3 Rally2 to a winning margin of over two minutes. Despite the comfortable final gap, Rossel faced immense pressure throughout the weekend from Nikolay Gryazin, who was piloting the new Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF on its competitive debut.

The contest remained tight until Saturday afternoon, when Gryazin, who had recovered from earlier suspension trouble, closed to within 10.8 seconds of the lead. However, the Lancia driver's challenge collapsed on SS12 when difficult slushy conditions sent his car off the road. Gryazin eventually rejoined to finish sixth.

With the primary challenger sidelined, the competition for the remaining podium positions tightened. Roberto Daprà secured second place in his Škoda Fabia, while Arthur Pelamourgues impressed on his series debut by claiming third. Eric Camilli followed in fourth, hampered by late-stage mechanical issues, with Chris Ingram completing the top five for Toyota.