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Early Sunday, the Peugeot 104 ZS driven by Carlos Tavares, the CEO of the Stellantis group and an authentic petrolhead, broke down in the first stage, Le Moulinon/Antraigues (SR4). The front right transmission seemed out of order and it looked like game over, before the ritual stop planned at “La Remise”, the famous restaurant of the Jouanny family. However, a man living next to the stage had the same model in his garage, in very good condition. He provided the spare parts needed for an urgent fix and the white 104 started again, in SR5. The next goal on the agenda was to get safely back to Valence on Sunday night.
Due to the snow and ice in the climb to Col de Pennes, a safety speed average, lower than the one originally planned, was imposed on competitors in SR3 (16.13km) between Recoubeau- Jansac and Pennes-le-Sec. It was the third regularity stage of the 25th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique and it was won by a 1975 Volvo 242, entered by Germany’s Norbert Drexler and Austria’s Christian Roessler, tied with the 1964 Sunbeam Tiger of a Belgian crew, Carlo Mylle and Steven Vyncke. The competitors then passed the Crest time control (CH3) and finally arrived within the scheduled times in Valence, on the famous Champ de Mars. It was the end of the Classification Leg with a Mini Cooper S in the lead of the overall standing, the same Mini that won SR2.
The serious part really starts on Sunday, with four legendary stages for Leg 1 of 3, in Ardèche and Haute-Loire. In his Alpine-Renault, half a century after his legendary 1973 win in Monaco, Jean-Claude Andruet will go back in time… notably at La Remise in Antraigues-sur-Volane where the local apple pie was once dedicated to him, before it became distributed by the Jouanny Family to all competitors!
The Austin Mini Cooper S driven by Giorgio Schon and navigated by Francesco Giammarino, one of the Torino entries, won the laurels in SR2 (15.44km) between Chaudon-Norante and Digne-les-Bains, on Saturday morning, before a short break on Place du Tampinet, in the heart of the Prefecture of Alpes de Haute-Provence. There were a few patches of black ice in SR1, but in famous Col du Corobin, very rarely used in winter, there was quite a lot of snow, especially in the descent to Digne; So that all crews had to watch out, and only one made a spectacular mistake. At the end of this stage, on equal penalty points with the Italian Mini, there were two Italian cars at the top of the results sheet: the 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI 1600 entered by the Chiesa couple, Giovanni and Tiziana, already very well placed at the end of SR1, and a Lancia from Switzerland, the 1970 Fulvia Coupé 1.3S with Claudio Enz and Cristina Seeberger on board.
From E-Rally Monte-Carlo to Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, there is only one technological step! Frederic Lanciaux and Nicolas Buhot, winners of the 2021 edition of E-Rally Monte-Carlo, have changed cars. They are embarked in an English racing green MG that is very different from their usual VW ID. It is also much noisier, so that Nicolas, the co-driver, must learn to raise his voice when he reads out the pace notes. For a first participation in a RMCH, the electric and eclectic crew does not sulk its pleasure!
Credit where honor is due, the 2022 winners of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique were the best in the first Regularity Special (SR) of this 2023 edition, Saturday morning between Briançonnet and Ubraye (18.27 km). A stage used last week in WRC, but in reverse. There were 271 competitors classified at the end of SR1, but the leading duet was made up of Philippe and Antoine Cornet de Ways Ruart, in the same 1965 Porsche 911 that they drove to win the rally in February 2022. Behind the Belgian tandem, the closer rivals were another Porsche 911, coming from Germany and more recent (1982), a 1978 Opel Kadett GTE coming from Great Britain, and two Italian crews entered in a 1975 Lancia Stratos and a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia. Very promising…
A first stage has been completed! For the 272 competitors who arrived in the Principality on Friday evening, their faces showed the level of difficulty for the Concentration Leg. Five of them saw their participation come to a premature end. Some of them left on Tuesday morning from Oslo and the journey to Monaco was a good start before the first regularity stages which will start tomorrow.
He did it, without shaking, by managing perfectly, until the end, the 91st Rally Monte-Carlo: Sébastien Ogier, 39, won his 9th Rally Monte-Carlo since 2009, on Sunday in the Principality, taking half of the stage wins (9 out of 18) and leading from start to finish. This had only happened four times in the 21st century, so the Frenchman was entitled to call this a “perfect weekend”, without any arrogance.
On the list of faultless performances in Monaco, by leaders of a “Monte” from start to finish, Ogier (2018, 2023) equalizes with Loeb (2005, 2007). The only other member of this very select club is Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen (2010, with Ford). So this is an extremely rare performance, once more, that the driver from the Hautes-Alpes, now a luxury freelancer in the WRC, has just completed.
This is the 56th victory in WRC for the 8-time World Champion (vs 80 for the other Seb, Loeb) but it is the very first for his new co-driver Vincent Landais, in only their second joint outing in competition (4th in Japan at the end of 2022).
“It’s never easy here and Kalle (Rovanperä) was only 16 seconds behind me this morning, after taking big chances on Saturday,” Ogier also said. In this opening round of the 2023 season, Ogier faced the reigning World Champion, on equal terms, in the same type of car. There was a game but the Frenchman did not yield anything. He first created a gap on Friday, then he managed it on Saturday and Sunday, trying to avoid a puncture like the one that cost him victory in 2022, in the last stage, at the end of his memorable duel with Loeb. The method reminded us of his recent era of unchallenged domination of the WRC, crowned by eight world titles: from 2013 to 2016 at Volkswagen, in 2017 and 2018 at M-Sport Ford, in 2020 and 2021 at Toyota.
This record 9th win, in a completely dry Monte-Carlo, at the wheel of a dominating Yaris, launched the WRC season perfectly. And the final podium reflects the situation, with a 1-2 for Toyota Gazoo Racing and a deserved podium for Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport). This is also the first podium for Cyril Abiteboul (ex-Renault F1) as a team manager of the South Korean team, starting a year which will inevitably be marked by a new duel between Toyota Gazoo Racing and Hyundai Motorsport. Behind Elfyn Evans (4th), the last big fight of the weekend pitted another Toyota driver, Takamoto Katsuta, against an M-Sport Ford driver, Estonian Ott Tänak. The 2019 World Champion (at Toyota) won the day, by a minute, although there was only a tenth of a second between the two drivers at the start of SS18. A suspension issue wasted all the progress of the Japanese since the start and gave Tänak a reason to look forward to Rally Sweden in February. In the world championship standings, Ogier the freelancer is in the lead, just two points ahead of Rovanperä who took five Power Stage points for the 12th time in WRC. The young Finn will start Rally Sweden as favorite, since Ogier will be at home with his family. As for the 2024 edition of Rally Monte-Carlo, it may have a certain Seb Ogier on the entry list. “To make it a round figure”, Ogier smiled on Sunday, in Monaco.
The ultimate favorite of the 91st Rally Monte-Carlo, Sébastien Ogier, took his 9th record win on Sunday at Col de Turini. In front of the reigning world champion, Finnish youngster Kalle Rovanperä who ended this 2023 edition in style by winning the Power Stage and taking five bonus points to launch his defending campaign in the World Rally Championship (WRC).
“It’s huge, it’s my rally, the one that made me dream. A victory here is priceless,” Ogier said as he climbed off the roof of his Toyota Yaris, at the end of SS18. “This is my 56th victory in the WRC, but it is the first for my co-driver Vincent Landais. He deserves it because he did a great job. It was a perfect weekend”, added the new record holder for wins in a Rally Monte-Carlo, welcomed by his parents at the finish of this last stage.
The final podium of this rally, with Ogier and Rovanperä (Toyota Gazoo Racing) followed by Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport), perfectly reflects the way this completely dry event took place, on asphalt roads where the only notable traps, in some stages, were rocks detached from the road banks by the passage of numerous competitors.
The first three avoided all the pitfalls and the others did what they could, confronted to punctures, power steering failures, hybrid system issues, bad tire choices. They all experienced ups and downs, in all classes of the standings, in the purest tradition of Rally Monte-Carlo.
In the final standings, behind the Ogier-Rovanperä-Neuville trio, the honors were taken by Elfyn Evans (4th) in another Toyota, Ott Tänak (5th) in the M-Sport team’s fastest hybrid Ford Fiesta, and Takamoto Katsuta (6th), also in a Toyota, who was delayed by an untimely puncture in SS18.
In WRC2, Russia’s Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia), who races under the banner of his national Automobile Club, resisted Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3) until the end. In this high-level class, the podium was completed by Spaniard Pepe Lopez (Hyundai i20N).
Power Stage (ES/SS 18, Col de Turini) :
1. Rovanperä (Toyota) 5 pts
2. Tänak (M-Sport Ford) 4 pts
3. Evans (Toyota) 3 pts
4. Neuville (Hyundai) 2 pts
5. Ogier (Toyota) 1 pt
Mr. Pierre MARSEILLE, Deputy Mayor of Lucéram, is delighted that the Rallye Monte-Carlo is coming to his town. He reviews the impact and excitement of this event.
The impact of the Rallye Monte-Carlo for Luceram
“It is an event that attracts a lot of people. We have a lot of activities in the town during the few days when the Rally passes through our town. It also brings us a lot of tourists who come to discover our beautiful panoramas, our village and our beautiful resort of Peïra-Cava. Our shopkeepers are delighted because they have an increase in activity during these three days, both in sales on the spot and in take-away sales. And this image is also good for them, for their future activity throughout the year.
The Monte-Carlo, a well-organised event
“When you look at the Rally as a whole, it’s a huge organisation. Everything is well organised. Everything is done upstream, several months in advance, in collaboration with the Automobile Club de Monaco, the police force, so that everything is in place, notably in terms of road closures, the environment, and also environmental patrols. We are doing everything to ensure that the environmental impact is as gentle as possible for your city”.
There is only one stage left to contest in the 91st Rally Monte-Carlo, in prestigious Col de Turini, and Kalle Rovanperä has eventually dropped the case for good. In the final duel between Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers, Sébastien Ogier definitely regained control by setting the best time in SS17 (Lucéram-Lantosque, 18.82km) at the end of the morning, while the young Finn was mainly busy “managing tires” to prepare a good enough package for the Power Stage… and its bonus points.
With 15 km left to the last stage finish of this 2023 edition, the 8-time World Champion could take a step back: 23.5 seconds ahead of the reigning World Champion, and 45.1 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport), still solid in 3rd and definitely out of reach for Elfyn Evans (4th) in the third leading Yaris.
In WRC2, the game also seems to be set since Russia’s Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia), who races under the banner of his national Automobile Club, still holds a 10-second lead over Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3). With bonus points to claim in the Power Stage, as well, in the perspective of the championship.
