The leading crew of the 27th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique left nothing to chance going into the grand finale on Tuesday evening, and took care of also winning RS16 between Col de Braus and Lantosque (34.4 km). But they left a few crumbs for two of their most deserving rivals. Belgians Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo (1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI), well on their way to a second consecutive victory in the RMCH, finished this RS16 on a perfect tie (120 penalty points) with the Porsche 924 of Germans Jörg Pohlemann and Marc Stoll, on the one hand, and the Mini Cooper S of Italians Giorgio Schon and Francesco Giammarino, on the other.
Since the start of the Classification Leg in Valence on Friday morning, everyone has been focusing hard to avoid jeopardising a long weekend of intense effort in just a few minutes, so this RS16 didn’t produce any major surprise, with the leading contenders in the overall classification all there. Then everyone – the 189 surviving crews (out of 219 who started on Thursday) – headed for RS17, counting for a Power Stage, as in the World Rally Championship, to try and win the Special Prize offered on this occasion. For the first time in the long history of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique…