Everything came together to make this 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique a great vintage, from the perfect weather to the quality of the organisation by Automobile Club de Monaco, from the welcome given by the locals in all the towns and villages along the route, to the very high standard of the 233 crews who set off from the four corners of Europe. In the end, it all came down to a superb winning duo, the Belgians Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo, in a 1979 Opel Ascona 400, who led the way from Saturday afternoon until midnight on Tuesday, without interruption.

The winning tandem from the Low Countries has every reason to be proud: the one and only time an Opel has triumphed in a Rallye Monte-Carlo was back in 1982 in an Ascona, with the great Walter Röhrl at the wheel, assisted by the faithful Christian Geistdorfer.

Michel Decremer, who had already won here in 2017 in an Opel Ascona 2000, and his co-driver, for their second rally together, never faltered: no place higher than 55^th (out of more than 200 competitors), no more than 60 penalty points collected in any of the 16 Regularity Stages (SR) contested over four days. With a grand finale on Col de Turini just before midnight.

This is the second victory for a Belgian duo in 15 days in a Rallye Monte-Carlo, since Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe won in WRC at the end of January in their Hyundai i20. The final podium looks very impressive, with two Italian crews who spared no effort either: Giorgio Schon and Francesco Giammarino, at the front from start to finish in their Austin Mini Cooper S, and Maurizio Aiolfi and Carlo Merenda, who won two stages in their superb Lancia Beta Coupé 1800.

Impressive statistics!

If we look at the figures for this 26^th edition, there are two that stand out: firstly, the presence of 9 different makes of car in the Top 10 of the final and official general classification, published at 12:30 on Wednesday by the ACM; secondly, the fact that 10 car manufacturers won at least one SR, sometimes tied with another make. In detail, Porsche finally beat Lancia (6-5), while Austin (3 wins), Sunbeam and BMW (2 each) also came out on top, with the rest of the laurels shared between Mazda, Alfa Romeo (18 cars at the start), Citroën, Volkswagen and of course Opel, the winning brand this year.

For fans of old-fashioned statistics, here comes another one: Germany, with 10 victories in the SR (for four makes, Porsche, BMW, Opel and VW), beat Italy (only 6, including 5 for Lancia and one for Alfa), and Belgium succeeded Switzerland on the list of winners, since Claudio Enz and Cristina Seeberger won last year in a Lancia Fulvia.

A hugely popular event!

It was certainly a long and testing rally for the crews and organisers, but the support of the local population all along the route was heart-warming, in all the departments crossed, from Ardèche to Drôme, from Isère to Hautes-Alpes, from Haute-Loire to Alpes de Haute-Provence, with Alpes-Maritimes to finish in style, in the great tradition of Rallye Monte-Carlo, on the mythical Col de Turini.

The 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique drew big crowds everywhere, and reassured all fans of old-school motorsport, old racing cars and charming, approachable drivers, never short of anecdotes and good stories. It was a great vintage, so we look forward to an even better rally in 2025!