Meeke sets the pace in Monte Carlo, Ogier 2nd after 2 stages

2015 World champion Sebastien Ogier of France steering his Polo Volkswagen, starts the 84th Rally of Monte Carlo, from Monaco, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016.

World champion Ogier was followed in third spot by Andreas Mikkelsen who was 20 seconds behind Meeke.

“Transparency is very high within the team”.

Last year’s Rally Argentina victor was quick to play down his shakedown scratch time, pointing out the rapid deterioration in the stage surface.

On the fourth stage Ogier clipped a bridge and damaged the rear of his Volkswagen, but the vehicle was still capable of snatching the lead from Meeke on the next run, where Ogier was 8.2s quicker than the Northern Irishman to move 1.5s ahead overall.

It was a testing start for all the drivers with cars struggling for grip on the icy, muddy track.

Ogier was two tenths of a second down on Meeke, with the top two more than three seconds ahead of their nearest challenger: Dani Sordo in Hyundai’s all-new i20 WRC.

Ogier was a little too cautious in his last five kilometres of the second stage, where the road was covered in snow and ice.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was a further 10 seconds behind Mikkelsen, while Hayden Paddon – who is the only Hyundai driver with the 2015 spec – finished fifth after the first two stages.

But the South Korean manufacturer will be looking to improve on a poor record of just one win in two years, courtesy of Neuville’s triumph in Germany at the end of 2014.

This time he was smiling – he was leading the Monte Carlo Rally for the first time.

The contract was signed to mark the championship returning to China in September.