Ott Tänak won Thursday afternoon’s opening two speed tests to claim the early lead at Rallye Monte-Carlo. He added a further three tenths to his lead by taking the following 20.78km test from Saint-Maurice to Saint-Bonnet, despite stalling at the start. Conditions in the opening test were wet but patchy ice early in the next stage made grip unpredictable. Takamoto Katsuta was just off the leaderboard after spinning his Yaris in both stages. Two loops of two tests sandwich a single pass through the longest stage of the weekend. The action kicks off before dawn at 06.10, with service after the first three tests.

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