View source for Rallying-Ogier Chasing Record 10th Monte Carlo Win As New Season...

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Eight-times world rally champion Sebastien Ogier is still hungry for success, even as a Toyota part-timer, as he starts a new season chasing a record-extending 10th Monte Carlo Rally win this weekend.<br><br>The oldest and most evocative round of the championship is based in the south-eastern town of Gap, the 40-year-old French driver's birthplace, and he knows the treacherous mountain roads as well as anyone.<br><br>"Numbers are never my main motivation, but if I could get a 10th win on this event it would be something very special," last year's winner said in the build-up to an asphalt rally notorious for ice and snow.<br><br>"I think it´s the rally that you need to respect more than any other as the conditions can be so challenging, which means that nothing is guaranteed."<br><br>Team mate and reigning champion Kalle Rovanpera is taking time out this season, driving selected events, with Welshman Elfyn Evans Toyota's main title contender after finishing overall runner-up three times in the past four years.<br><br>Evans has yet to win in Monte Carlo, finishing second in 2021.<br><br>Estonia's Ott Tanak, returning to Hyundai after a year away at M-Sport Ford, led the way in Wednesday's short and dry shakedown ahead of Evans and Hyundai's Thierry Neuville with Ogier fourth.<br><br>"It´s always a difficult challenge," commented Tanak. "Even if I've been here before, it's still a little bit unknown."<br><br>The big change in the championship for  [https://getb8.us/online-casinos/ play online casino] this season is a new scoring system aimed at providing more excitement on the final day.<br><br>Points will now be allocated at the end of Saturday's action on a scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 and providing the crews complete the rally on Sunday, with the final day providing more points on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.<br><br>The final Power Stage offers up to a further five bonus points.<br><br>The rally proper starts with two evening stages on Thursday, with three stages run twice each on Friday and again on Saturday before the finish on Sunday and official prize-giving in Monaco's [https://getb8.us/online-casinos/ Casino] Square. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)<br><br>Here's more info in regards to [https://getb8.us/online-casinos/ poker online casino] review our own web-page.