Ogier takes his hat off to Monte-Carlo winner Neuville

The Toyota driver kept Neuville honest for much of the event, but ultimately had no answer to the Belgian’s final-day pace which ended with three stage wins and a dominant performance from the winner.

After the event, Ogier, who finished 16.1sec adrift of the top spot, said: “Hats off to Thierry, he has done a great rally and he deserves this one. He had good speed for the whole of the event. The gaps were always small, but in the end they were in the wrong direction for us. I think it was a really nice fight and one the fans could really enjoy to follow.”

Talking about his own performance, Ogier said: “I have still won this rally nine times and that’s more than anybody else. I’m proud of how I drove and how I competed this weekend – second place is still a very good result. You know my feelings for this rally, I love it and I love the fans here. It’s special.”

Neuville’s victory was a perfect result, with him adding maximum Super Sunday and Wolf Power Stage points to his Saturday evening P1 tally of 18 in the French Alps.