A short and narrow Sainte-Agnès/Peille shakedown stage provided the first glimpse of the new Rally1 cars in a timed environment as they completed final preparations for the rally which begins on Thursday night.
Newly-crowned eight-time champion Ogier, partnered with new co-driver Benjamin Veillas following the retirement of his long-time partner Julien Ingrassia, clocked the fastest time after the four runs by logging a time of 1m50.4s on his third and final run.
Ogier’s final effort was enough to topple Loeb, who set the pace from the outset in his first outing for M-Sport this year.
Nine-time world champion Loeb, also working with a new co-driver in Isabelle Galmiche after splitting with Daniel Elena in 2021, initially set the pace with a 1m53.9s first run aboard the new Ford Puma.
He then lowered that benchmark to a 1m50.9s, only 0.6s shy of Ogier, as he prepares for his first WRC event since Turkey 2020 in a Hyundai.
Last year’s championship runner-up Elfyn Evans put his…
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