Ogier upbeat despite Monte Carlo exit

Sebastien Ogier says he can take "a lot of positive things" from his heroic performance on the Monte Carlo Rally, round one of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, despite retiring on the final night.

Ogier, from France, retired heading to the event’s penultimate stage late last night when the alternator pulley shaft in his Peugeot 207 broke. He had been challenging for the lead at the time after winning seven special stages.

He said: "We had no alternator so it was impossible to go on. It’s very disappointing but for sure it was a good rally and we proved the Peugeot 207 is still good and could perform well all rally. We had some bad luck but we can take a lot of positive things from this rally."

Ogier had closed to within 4.9 seconds of rally winner Mikko Hirvonen after two stages on Wednesday. But his hopes of a second successive win evaporated when he went off the road on the third stage on a patch of snow and damaged his front-right wheel, losing 1m30s in the process.