Kalle Rovanperä topped shakedown this evening ahead of this weekend’s Rally Monza. Thierry Neuville clocked the second fastest time, 3 tenths off Rovanperä pace.
M-Sport Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux was third fastest ahead of title challenger Elfyn Evans. Gus Greensmith, who was confirmed as a 2022 M-Sport driver during shakedown, set the fifth fastest time.
Last year’s podium finisher Dani Sordo completed shakedown in sixth ahead of Teemu Suninen who replaces Ott Tänak for the final event of the season. Championship leader Sébastien Ogier set the eighth fastest time, 3.7s shy off Rovanperä leading pace.
Last year, Takamoto Katsuta had to retire on the first stage of the rally last year after hitting a wall on Friday and went on to take his first ever WRC stage win in the Power Stage on Sunday. The Japanese driver looks to show his stage winning pace this weekend. He was nine fastest in shakedown this evening, two seconds ahead of Oliver Solberg.
WRC3 driver Andrea Crugnola was the fastest non World Rally Car driver in P11. Andreas Mikkelsen, who won the 2021 WRC2 title in Spain without even competing in the event, was the fastest WRC2 driver in P12 overall this evening.
Read our preview of this weekend’s title decider here. SS1 gets underway tomorrow morning at 7:31 local time!
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WRC Rally Monza 2021 Shakedown results
| # | Drivers | Car | Time / Diff. to 1st |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Rovanperä / Halttunen | Toyota Yaris WRC | 2:55.1 |
| 2. | Neuville / Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC | +0.3 |
| 3. | Fourmaux / Coria | Ford Fiesta WRC | +1.0 |
| 4. | Evans / Martin | Toyota Yaris WRC | +1.3 |
| 5. | Greensmith / Andersson | Ford Fiesta WRC | +1.3 |
| 6. | Sordo / Carrera | Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC | +3.3 |
| 7. | Suninen / Markkula | Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC | +3.4 |
| 8. | Ogier / Ingrassia | Toyota Yaris WRC | +3.7 |
| 9. | Katsuta / Johnston | Toyota Yaris WRC | +3.8 |
| 10. | Solberg / Edmondson | Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC | +5.8 |
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool