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.

It was one of the most eagerly-awaited moments of the 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique: the ritual stop at La Remise, in Antraigues-sur-Volane, at midday on Sunday in the heart of the Ardèche, to celebrate 60 years of loyalty to the Monte-Carlo Rally in all its forms.

There have already been 60 years of warm, gourmet meals offered to five generations of drivers, that’s also three times twenty years of infectious good humour! Thank you to Yves Jouanny and his family, of course, and thank you for the tons of apple pie that you’ve been preparing and offering over all these years! By the way, in the entrance to La Remise, there’s still a real pedal car from the 60s, and more precisely from 1964, to commemorate the year La Remise opened.

And because Yves Jouanny never shies away from making the slightest sacrifice to mark his sacred alliance with Automobile Club de Monaco, this year a stretch of tarmac in front of La Remise has been painted in red and white, the traditional colours of the Principality…

Nobody could have predicted it, but it happened on Sunday morning in RS5 of the 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique: a venerable 1972 Citroën SM clocked up at zero, having perfectly respected the average speed between Lyas and Pourchères (19.8 km) for the first 100% Ardèche stage of this 2024 edition.

The authors of this genuine feat? Antoine Raymond and Gilles Olivier, who are experienced enough to perfectly exploit the famous Maserati V6 engine (2.7 litres, 170 bhp) of this beautiful old-timer. Also on the RS5 podium were a Greek team in a 1978 Ford Fiesta XR2, and two French teams in German cars, tied for 3^rd place: David Arragon and Elodie Soubigou (BMW 320), Xavier Bernard and Werner Blanc (Porsche 924). As for the overall leader after this surprising RS5, it was still the Belgian duo Decremer-Hugo in their Opel Ascona.

Just before the start of this RS5, a particularly festive time check was organised by Privas town hall, early in the morning.  It was a welcome worthy of the Ardèche’s reputation for conviviality, with a huge number of fans out in the sunshine to greet and applaud the 220 or so crews still in the running. And off to La Remise d’Antraigues-sur-Volane, after RS6…

Fans feared that the star crew Saby-Giraudet, with the winner of Rallye Monte-Carlo 1988, in a Ford Capri 2.6l bearing number 38, would have to retire due to a mechanical problem. They finally arrived on Sunday morning in front of the legendary La Remise, in Antraigues-sur-Volane, and were able to sample the famous apple tart made by the Jouanny family, on the 60^th anniversary of this ritual stop for Rallye Monte-Carlo. Thanks to a makeshift repair to its transmission, the Capri…ciosa is still rolling!

Among the 221 crews who set off from Valence on Sunday morning, between 8.00 and 11.40, for the first part of the Common Leg, there were nothing but enthusiasts, 15% of them women, most of them co-drivers. So here’s Part 1 of a gallery of portraits that will continue until the end of this 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique…

Ladies’ honour: there is only one all-female crew in this 2024 edition. Barbara Hemmerle, from Liechtenchtein, and Isabelle Godin, in a 1975 Alfa Romeo GTV bearing number 100. They are the ideal crew to mark the the 70thanniversary of Madeleine Pochon and Lise Renaud’s winning the Ladies Cup at Rallye Monte-Carlo in 1954.

They are a couple in town and in the car: Lydia and Olivier Campana, still faithful to Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, are driving a 1979 VW Golf GTi carrying number 50. Needless to say, their sights are slightly higher than the Best Monegasques Cup!

Last but not least, one of the great veterans of this 26^th edition should also be honoured: American John Buffum was for a long time the best driver in the history of US rallying, until the repeated exploits of the late stuntman Ken Block. At nearly 80 years of age, in a beautiful 1980 Ford Escort RS2000, John is back on Rallye Monte-Carlo, six decades after finishing 19th… in 1969!

Belgium’s festival on the 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique continued on Saturday in RS4, the final regularity stage of a fine day of rallying in the sunshine. Thanks to the Opel Ascona 400 of Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo, flying the colours of Radio Monte-Carlo.

They were excellent all day, and they were rewarded at the end: the Belgian duo Decremer-Hugo won the most beautiful regularity stage of the day, in the Vercors massif, via Col de l’Echarasson where, for the first time in the rally, there was some snow in places. But not on the road, which was perfectly dry. And on Saturday evening, they were on top of the overall standings!

Between La Cîme du Mas and Col Gaudissart (17.4 km), the crew of the number 25 Ascona did slightly better than the rally’s benchmark crew, made up of Bruno Saby and Denis Giraudet, in their 1970 Ford Capri 2300 S. Quite a performance, given the CVs of the two men, the first one a winner of the WRC version of Rallye Monte-Carlo, in 1988, and the other a legendary co-driver who has navigated many of the best drivers of his generation in the world’s greatest rallies.

In this stage set in a breathtaking background, the places of honour were taken by the Renault 5 Alpine of Jean-Pierre Verneuil and Jean-Marc Piret, tied in 3^rd  place with the Morris Mini Cooper S of Ferrucio and Carlo Nessi, not to forget the Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV of the youngest competitors in this 26th edition, Julien Picoreau and Camille Béal. Both are only 23 years old, so they weren’t even born when the first edition of Rallye Monte Carlo Historique took place.

After a particularly festive final checkpoint from 5pm in Saint-Jean-en-Royans, all the surviving competitors arrived at Champ de Mars in Valence, from 6.30pm onwards. With the exception of a few crews who dropped out en route, due to a variety of mechanical incidents, this was a very fine day of  historic rallying.

Belgium, with a strong presence on the entry list for this 26th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, continued showing its colours in RS3, the first timed section on Saturday afternoon. Thanks to Maxime Castelein and Filip Deplancke in a rare 1964 Sunbeam Tiger bearing number 203, who took the flag from compatriots Jean-Christophe Henderickx and Karl Thybergin (Alfa Romeo), the winners of RS2 at the end of the morning.

It was between Ventavon and Chabestan (20.1 km), in the first regularity stage of the afternoon, after the welcome lunch break in Digne-les-Bains (Alpes de Haute-Provence). The Castelein-Deplancke tandem finished tied at the top of the timesheets with two Italians in an Austin Mini Cooper S, Giorgio Schon and Francesco Gianmarino.

Also in the Top 5 of this RS3 appeared a Renault 5 Alpine, the one entered for Patrice and William Lamotte, as well as the Fiat 128 Rally of a Greek crew, and another Belgian crew, aboard an Opel Ascona 400 already spotted in 3rdplace in RS1: Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo (see photo above), two passionate regulars of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique.