The two WRC legends waged a rally-long battle for victory with the lead changing hands across four brutal days of competition as the WRC ushered in its new Rally1 hybrid era.
Ultimately the rally was decided in a final stage shootout, after Loeb was handed a 9.5s lead when Toyota’s Ogier suffered a front-left puncture on the penultimate test.
Loeb and co-driver Isabelle Galmiche kept their nerve in the final Power Stage to see off Ogier and new co-driver Benjamin Veillas, to take an eighth Monte Carlo rally win by 10.5s.
There was more drama in the final stage as Ogier was handed a 10s jump start penalty, and had he not incurred the sanction the overall gap to Loeb would have been just 1.5s.
Ogier, also running a partial campaign, initially led the rally from Loeb after winning Thursday’s opening two stages before Loeb dominated Friday to take four of the six stages, ending the day with a 9.9s lead.
On Saturday, Ogier fought back with the pair briefly level pegging on overall…
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