Thierry Neuville won all four stages on Sunday to claim his maiden Rallye Monte Carlo win ahead of Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.
All three drivers were separated by just 6.4 seconds overnight but Hyundai driver Neuville retook the lead on the second stage of the day, before pulling away over the remainder of the event and took the win by 12.6 seconds.
The Belgian also claimed the Power Stage win ahead of Ogier, with Teemu Suninen, Evans and Esapekka Lappi also picking up bonus points.
Saturday night leader Evans couldn’t match his pace on the final four stages of the event and slipped to third on the Power Stage after Ogier matched Neuville’s fastest time – the Toyota pair separated by just 1.7 seconds at the end of the rally.
Lappi took fourth overall for M-Sport Ford after Sebastien Loeb dropped time getting stuck on the edge of a ditch on the second stage of the morning. The Frenchman’s day got worse after needing to save his tyres and he lost fifth to Kalle Rovanperä as a result.
With Loeb finishing sixth, he was over six minutes ahead of the fourth Toyota of Takamoto Katsuta. Suninen recovered to eighth in the standings after getting ahead of WRC3 winner Eric Camilli on the leaderboard.
WRC2 went the way of Mads Østberg, although his weekend long battle with Ole Christian Veiby came to an early end after the Hyundai driver crashed on the first run through La Cabanette – Col de Braus. This promoted Adrien Fourmaux and Nikolay Gryazin into the top three in class.
It was a French lockout in WRC3, with Nicolas Ciamin and Yoann Bonato getting nearest to runaway winner Camilli.
The next round of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Sweden, takes place between February 13-16.
