TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver Elfyn Evans leads Rallye Monte-Carlo after setting the pace in the first stages of the 2024 season on Thursday night.

After the pre-event shakedown was held on Wednesday evening close to the service park in Gap, the crews travelled to Monaco on Thursday for the traditional start ceremony in the iconic Casino Square.

Shortly before the rally cars went over the start ramp, Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä helped to reveal their special edition GR Yaris models, which feature input from TGR-WRT’s two world champion drivers.

After leaving Monaco, crews headed into the mountains for two night-time stages, which still provided a challenging start even though warmer-than-usual temperatures have meant less ice and snow in the stages than might normally be expected.

Evans made a strong start in the first test from Thoard to Saint-Geniez, where he was fastest by 5.2 seconds, and he was even further clear in the second stage between Bayons and Bréziers, where he was quickest by 6.8s.

He leads the rally by 15.1s over Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), with Ogier in third position just 6.5s further back. Takamoto Katsuta rounds out the top six overall, 46.3s away.

Elfyn said: “It's been a pretty good evening. We had a good clean run in the first stage, the feeling was quite OK. It’s quite an abrasive stage that’s hard on the tyres so it’s difficult to know if you’re using enough of the grip.

"Stage two was then quite a bit more complicated, there was quite a lot of dampness around combined with a shiny surface so the grip was low. The objective tonight was to get through cleanly more than anything so of course I’m happy but it’s just the beginning and there’s a very long way to go.”