The German brands continued their raid on this 26^th edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, by winning RS13 which opened the 3^rd and final part of the Common Leg on Tuesday morning: a 1981 BMW 323i driven by a Spanish crew, Luis Climent Asensio and Victor Buades (#146), took the laurels between Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert and La Motte Chalançon (18.2 km), another mythical stage of the WRC version, tied with a 1982 VW Scirocco, driven by Ilya Kashin and navigated by Boris Kostyrko (#43).

This was the first regularity stage of the final day and, as is often the case since Monday, the Lancia of the Swiss title holders was back at the front: Claudio Enz and Cristina Seeberger, in their Fulvia 1.3S Coupé, took 3^rd place, ahead of the other Lancia Fulvia of a Danish crew, Simonsen-Kristensen (#30), and another BMW, the 2002 Ti of Laurent Combier and Etienne Berthoin.

This good result enabled the crew in the VW Scirocco to move up one place in the overall standings, from 5^th to 4^th, behind an unchanged leading trio: Opel, ahead of Mini and Alfa. There were still two SRs to be contested on the way back to Monaco, followed by the last two this evening around Col de Turini.

The gallery of portraits of participants in the 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique continues with a number of outstanding characters…

Like a plane without wings…

For Olivier Perriaud, professional life has always rhymed with blue skies. Since he started flying at the age of 17, he has clocked up no fewer than 15,000 flying hours at the controls of a wide variety of aircrafts. He is an operational pilot for Dassault Aviation, but he is spending this week on the winding stages of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique to indulge in his second passion. It was a meeting with the living memory of Monte-Carlo Rally, the famous Yves Jouanny, owner of La Remise, that led to him signing for this 26^th edition. His red Golf GTI may not be a fighter jet, but it’s more than enough to send Olivier and his co-driver Nathalie Briquet to the 7th heaven.

Alfa Romeo is everywhere…

There were 18 Alfa Romeos at the start of this 26th edition, that’s almost 8% of the field. One of them is a 1979 Alfetta GTV, number 40, registered in Monaco, bearing the colours of the ACM and the Flaujac Foundation. It is driven by Stefano Caminiti, navigated by his son Pasquale, and it is provisionally ranked 80^th (out of 217 classified crews). Another car, a 1971 GTV 2000, is perfectly managed by the youngest crew in this rally, Jules Picoreau and Camille Béal (both 23). It was 3^rd overall on Tuesday morning, when all crews left Valence for Monaco. Aiming at what would be an historic podium finish for the two juniors.

Pat Lambert, 25 out of 26

Pat Lambert has only missed one edition of the Historic Monte Carlo Rally, but not really: she was assisting a friend rather than being a driver or co-driver. So she insists that she has “lived them all”, on ACM’s social networks, and she has nothing but great memories. One of them was when “Mr Noël, in Saint-Agrève”, repaired her car after a sudden suspension failure. This kind of Monte-Carlo Santa Claus, a real enthusiast, did all the necessary welding and enabled the car to make it back to the finish without a hitch. This year, Pat, who is also the official speaker for the International Rowing Federation, is competing in a little Fiat Moretti 850S, number 220, with Didier Lodewyckx at the wheel. And she’s making the most of every moment on the road or in a village.

It was a rather unexpected pairing that emerged at the top of the penalty sheets in the RS12 which brought Monday to a close: Lancia, this time with the Beta Coupé 1800 of Maurizio Aiolfi and Carlo Merenda (#2), and Austin, with the Mini Cooper S of Thomas Bauchet and Vincent Kerhard (#219). 

The final drive of the day saw Lancia add one point for Italy in the big fight against German brands, adding a 3rd win to its record of SR victories in this 26^th edition of Rallye Monte Carlo Historique. Austin also put his name at the top of the board for the first time this year, on the 15.9km route between Recoubeau-Jansac and Pennes le Sec, both in the Drôme Provençale area.

It was a fine end to Day 2 of the Common Leg, narrowly edging out two crews from Eastern Europe who were rather unexpected at such a high level: Andrei Ponomarev and Victor Polyakov in a 1978 VW Golf GTi, Hungary’s Tamas Pasztor and Peter Majoshazi in a 1964 Fiat 2300 S Coupé. Just behind them, the two young Frenchmen in an Alfa Romeo GTV, Jules Picoreau and Camille Béal, again picked up valuable points for the overall classification.

With 12 of the 17 special stages completed, and only five left to go on Tuesday, the suspense is total as the gaps are very small. The leaders are still Belgium’s Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo, in their Opel Ascona in Radio Monte-Carlo livery, ahead of Italy’s Giorgio Schon and Francesco Giammarino (Austin Mini Cooper S) and, on the provisional podium, the Picoreau-Béal duo in their beautiful Alfa GTV. All grouped together in just 160 points. Watch out, as Tuesday will be decisive…

After a Porsche one-two in RS10, the Stuttgart-based marque did it again early this afternoon in RS11 between Sainte-Jalle and Rémuzat (16km), thanks to the 911 SC of Italians Mario Piantelli and Fabio Cambie. But a Lancia was just behind on the timesheet, the Fulvia of Swiss title holders Claudio Enz and Cristina Seeberger.

Behind the Italian Porsche, the Swiss Lancia, carrying race number 1, was tied with three other cars, the VW Golf GTi of Eric Mallen and Jean-Louis Rimet (#60), the BMW 2002 Ti of Pierre and Jules André (#74) and the two inevitable Belgians in their red Sunbeam Tiger (#203), Maxime Castelein and Filip Deplancke, once again at the front, having already proved themselves the best in RS3 on Saturday and RS8 on Sunday.

This 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique is turning more and more into a duel between German and Italian cars, as both countries have monopolised stage wins since the start of the Classification Leg on Saturday morning. After RS11, the very provisional score is 5-3 for Germany (Porsche 3, BMW 1, Opel 1) vs Italy (Lancia 2, Alfa Romeo 1). The other three SRs were won by Sunbeam (2) and Citroën.

The 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique had not seen such a domination by German manufacturers until this Monday morning in RS10: Porsche took the honour of a one-two finish between Laborel and Montauban sur l’Ouvèze (19.7km), and four other German cars made it into the Top 7.

The start of this RS was set up in front of the Monte Carlo Rally Museum, created from scratch by a fan of the event as well as a keen collector, who has amassed a wealth of memorabilia over the years. Not to mention the fact that the village of Laborel goes out of its way to decorate its square every time an ACM event passes through.

Behind the two Porsches tied for 1^st place in this RS10, the blue 911 turbo of Spaniards Alvaro Ochagavias Temino and Manuel Macho Gomez, number 4, and the 924 of Luc and Louis Dumas, number 118, we saw the divine surprise appearance of the Ford Capri of Bruno Saby and Denis Giraudet: it was bound to retire on Sunday until its mechanics worked miracles by repairing its transmission.

Behind this remarkable trio, the places of honour went to four other German cars: two other Porsches, a 911 and a 924, an Opel Kadett GTE and even an Audi 80 GLE entered by a Belgian crew, Jean-Pierre Vannerum and Nicolas Plas. All in all, 6 places in the Top 7 of this stage, which took place entirely in the Drôme Provençale region of France. With all the windows down to make the most of the spring-like weather.

There was a long pause between the first and second wins of a Lancia Fulvia in a regularity stage of the 26^th Monte Carlo Historic Rally. And so we had to wait until Monday morning, between Valdrôme (Drôme) and La Piarre (Hautes-Alpes), to see another pretty Italian coupé, in 1.6 HF version, succeed the one that opened the ball in SR1.

This time, over a distance of just 11.9 km, up and down the Col de Carabes (1261 m) in sunshine that gradually cleared away the morning fog, it was a French team that achieved the average time closest to the one suggested by the organisers: Olivier and Côme Martin, in a 1969 Lancia Fulvia, did slightly better than the four teams tied for 2^nd place.

The field of four cars that received 50 penalty points each (compared with 30 for the winning Lancia) included two Porsches, the 911 with number 9 and the 924 with number 118, but above all a superb Peugeot 504 V6 Coupé (photo), that of François and Benoît Méon (number 83), which dates back to 1975, and an equally superb Lancia Beta Monte-Carlo entered by Gabriel Valentin and Laurent Bertaut, with number 86 on its doors.

They left Monaco on Monday, just as they had come, discreetly, at the wheel of around twenty classic cars, including an antique MG in perfect condition which had competed in the Monte Carlo Rally at the very beginning of the last century.

They are all British, and most of them Scottish friends of June and Douglas Anderson, “a group of friends who are very attached to Monaco”, explains Claude Plasseraud, a member of the ACM Organising Committee.

To celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the first start of a Concentration Route for a Rallye Monte Carlo in Glasgow, the friends set off last Wednesday. Just after the official start of the five competitors from Glasgow entered in the 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. And just like them, they travelled more than 2,000 km to reach the Principality on Saturday, in time to take part in a special gala evening at the ACM, organized for them.

“The gala evening was very nice, they all wore bow ties and they all received medals commemorating their journey,” adds Claude Plasseraud, an ACM member since the 90s. There were only 4 withdrawals en route, out of an initial field of 25, which shows the quality of the work done on these old cars by their passionate owners. When they get back to Glasgow at the end of the week, these great enthusiasts will have added another 4,000 km to the odometer of their classic car. All due respect.

The red Sunbeam Tiger had already been very efficient on Saturday afternoon in RS3 of the 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. Twenty-four hours later, this beautiful 1964 Coupé is the first car to win two regularity stages in this 2024 edition, thanks to the obvious talent of its Belgian crew, Maxime Castelein and Filip Deplancke.

This RS8 took place in the Haute-Loire department, as did the loop around Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (SR7) earlier in the afternoon. And the Castelein-Deplancke duo, between Lalouvesc and Labatie d’Andaure (22.9km), did better than two very different cars: the imposing red Citroën SM of Antoine Raymond and Gilles Olivier, once again at the front, and the Austin Mini Cooper S of Italians Giorgio Schon and Francesco Gianmarino.

At the top of the timesheets for this RS8, the last of Sunday’s four SRs on the menu, was the number 7 Alfa Romeo GTV of Picoreau-Béal, tied for 4^th place with a Porsche and, more importantly, the Opel Ascona of Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo. The Belgians’Opel, ahead of the Italians’Mini and the Alfa GTV of the two young Frenchmen, this is the leading trio of the rally on Sunday evening, the very provisional podium. There is still plenty to play for, as 9 stages remain on the schedule until Tuesday evening…

The Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid loop lived up to all its promises on Sunday afternoon, with thousands of rally fans gathered in and around the famous Haute-Loire village. All were able to enjoy the show and the result of RS7: a Porsche ahead of the title holders’ Lancia Fulvia and two Citroëns, a SM and a DS!

German vs Italian manufacturers, this is the story building in the regularity stages of this 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique: Lancia and Alfa Romeo had opened the ball, but Opel, on Saturday, and BMW, on Sunday morning, replied, imitated by Porsche in RS7. Thanks to the 924 of Germans Jörg Pohlemann and Marc Stoll, who did better than the Lancia Fulvia 1.3 S of Claudio Enz and Cristina Seeberger, last year’s winning Swiss pair.

Five crews tied for 3rd place in this RS7, including two in Citroëns: Antoine Raymond and Gilles Olivier, who had surprised everybody on Sunday morning by winning RS5 in their venerable Maserati-powered red SM, number 63; and Damien Ancellin and Paul-Emmanuel Bidault in a beautiful blue DS23, number 35 (see photo below).

All that remained was one regularity stage, RS8, before returning to Valence for a well-deserved night’s rest. The rally’s youngest crew, Jules Picoreau and Camille Béal, both 23, were still well inside the Top 5 in their Alfa Romeo GTV, number 7.

It was to be one of the highlights of the 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, late on Sunday morning: the 27.7km long RS6 between Freyssenet and Saint-Martial, in the very heart of Ardèche. And another brand came out on top, BMW, thanks to Laurent Combier and Etienne Berthoin’s 2002 TI, a car dating back to 1969. 

The French crew in the number 65 BMW did slightly better than the Greeks in the number 232 Austin Mini Cooper S, dating from 1973, and the VW Golf GTi of Eric Mallen and Jean-Louis Rimet, who tied with the 1964 Volvo 161 of the Germans Michael and Julius Pan.  And although the overall standings have shifted slightly, the lead is still held by Belgians Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo, in their Opel Ascona in Radio Monte-Carlo livery.

One thing’s for sure: after Saturday’s Classification Leg, a beautiful warming-up session between Monaco and Valence, this 2024 edition really drew in the big crowds on Sunday in the Ardèche and Haute-Loire departments. There were plenty of people everywhere, in the villages and along the roads, of all ages, to share the passion of old-style rallying in the sunshine, with cars you can touch and drivers you can approach easily. And there’s no risk involved, thanks to the perfect organisation and the numerous committed stewards coordinated by Automobile Club de Monaco.