Seb Ogier ahead of Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä: Toyota Gazoo Racing started Day 2 of the 91st  Rally Monte-Carlo on a high, by setting the three best times of a completely dry SS3 over 18.33km between Roure, Roubion and Beuil. The eight-time World Champion added 3.2 seconds to the tally of the Welshman and 6.1 to his credit on the young Finn, and reigning world champion. A good way to show who remains the WRC boss … when he comes to play around, between two family obligations across the Rhine.

This morning, Ogier had left the port of Monaco with three Pirelli Soft tires and two Super Soft, a choice linked to the quota of tires available for the entire rally: “The truth is that we don’t have so many Soft tires for the whole rally (20 Soft and 24 Super Soft to compete in 18 special stages), so we can’t take too many on board. In the end, we don’t need to have one more”, Ogier explained after his third win in as many stages since Thursday evening in Col de Turini.

Behind the trio of Toyota drivers, the gaps continued to widen, with Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport) in one of his favorite roles: best of the others, 4th at 7.8 seconds of Ogier, ahead of both M-Sport Ford drivers, Ott Tänak, the 2019 World Champion, 5th at eight seconds, and Pierre-Louis Loubet, very focused for his debut in the “Monte” in a hybrid WRC, only two tenths behind his team leader. Very promising.

With regards to the particularly tough WRC2 field, battle resumed on Friday morning between Russia’s Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia), racing under a neutral flag, and two Frenchmen, Yohan Rossel and Stéphane Lefebvre, embarked in a couple of Citroën C3 Rally2. After SS3, Gryazin is 17.6 seconds ahead of Rossel and holds a 21.6 advantage over Lefebvre.

He did not come as a tourist, Sébastien Ogier, to the 91st Monte-Carlo Rally: two stage wins to start without any hesitation in the process, and without leaving crumbs for his well-armed rivals. In SS2, between La Cabanette and Col de Castillon (24.90km), the eight-time World Champion upped the pace and relegated Elfyn Evans, his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate, 4.7 seconds back, instead of 1.3 second in SS1, over 15 km.

“For once, we are not opening the road and that is a real advantage”, Ogier explained at the end of SS2. Starting in sixth position on the road, by virtue of the 2022 WRC classification, the luxury freelancer of the Japanese brand was not surprised in the very slippery left corner, with numerous spectators, located at km 10.5 of this SS2. A few minutes after another one of his teammates, 2022 World Champion Kalle Rovanperä, made a mistake, as did Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), exactly in the same turn.

“I don’t know what happened, I had no grip and I certainly wasn’t the first to get caught out. I could see the tracks on the road but it was too late to react,” Neuville said. He lost around ten seconds in the incident, just like Rovanperä. This is two seconds more than 2019 champion Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford), still faced with power cuts when he changed gears in his hybrid Ford Puma.

After these first two tricky stages, everyone returned to the Port of Monaco for a well-deserved night’s rest. This first day had started early, with the Peille shakedown, and it ended more than twelve hours later, at Col de Castillon. Friday will be even more challenging with six special stages on the card (SS3 to SS8), i.e. 105 km of pure rallying around Puget-Théniers and Entrevaux (Alpes de Haute-Provence).

At the start on Friday morning, Ogier will hold a six-second advantage on Evans (2^nd), and he will also benefit from a 15.4 margin over Tänak (3^rd) and 15.5 over Neuville (4^th), the former teammates at Hyundai. He stands 17.1 ahead of Rovanperä (5^th), the “new generation” Finn, 32.1 over Dani Sordo (6^th) in another Hyundai, and 40.3 over Pierre-Louis Loubet (7^th) in the other works Puma of the M-Sport Ford team. Bring on Day 2!

Two Toyota drivers at the forefront, but not necessarily those we expected: the first special stage of 91st Rally Monte-Carlo, Thursday evening in prestigious Col de Turini, allowed Sébastien Ogier to take his first stage win of the week, ahead of Welshman Elfyn Evans. The Frenchman had been the quickest driver in the shakedown session, on Thursday morning, near Peille. He left no chance to any of his rivals and seized the chance to become the very first leader of this 2023 edition.

“It was fine, the conditions were very dry but very slippery at the end, because of the salt on the road. This is a very clean start for us. Anyone who says he is not tense either has a problem or he is lying”, Ogier said at the end of this SS1 (15.12km). Behind Ogier and Evans, honors were taken by Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) in 3^rd place and Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) in 4^th, followed by Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) in 5^th.

That is four Toyota Yaris in the Top 5 of this nightly opening stage. And three slightly slower drivers: Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford) 6^th and eight seconds behind Ogier, because he suffered electrical problems in his hybrid Ford Puma, Pierre-Louis Loubet (M-Sport Ford) 7^th at 10 seconds because he was a little too cautious for his first night in the Turini in a WRC car, and Dani Sordo (Hyundai) 9^th at 12 seconds, due to a lack of confidence after two years of absence in the opening round of the WRC.

They came in large numbers and they were not disappointed, grassroots fans as well as guests of the Automobile Club of Monaco (ACM): the starting ceremony for the 91^st Rally Monte-Carlo, early Thursday evening, was a tremendous success, starting with the best shots of the 2022 WRC season projected on the facade of the Casino, covered with a red and white checkerboard thanks to a superb light show.

The 74 crews entered (following the last-minute withdrawal of Sami Pajari, ill) then paraded on the podium erected in front of Café de Paris. The ten hybrid cars left the podium quietly, thanks to their electric power, and all the other cars made a bit more noise, but not too much, reminding those nostalgic fans of a bygone era, when you could hear rally cars from afar.

Almost all drivers told the official speaker that they hoped to manage as well as possible this first evening of racing, with two great special stages on the menu: La Bollène-Vésubie – Col de Turini (SS1, 15.12km) followed by La Cabanette – Col de Castillon (SS2, 24.90km). The two major favourites were ready to fight, Sébastien Ogier, looking for a record 9^th victory in the Principality, and Kalle Rovanperä, 22, the reigning world champion. Two Toyota drivers that their main rivals are determined to bother all week-end, at Hyundai Motorsport as well as at M-Sport Ford.

The time is dizzying from the outset: 1:44.6 over 2.29km between Sainte-Agnès and Peille, on the third pass this Thursday morning, much quicker than 1:50.4 last year on the same route, in similar conditions, by the same driver in the same car, well almost… Each time, the best shakedown time for Sébastien Ogier (Toyota Gazoo Racing), eight-time world champion in search of a record 9^th victory in the Principality, on Sunday.

That is almost six seconds better, or three seconds per kilometer, which gives an idea of the spectacular improvements of Ogier’s Toyota Yaris, one year after its official debut in January 2022. In the first pass, Ogier was already four seconds faster than last year, an improvement – thanks to the maximum utilisation of the hybrid boost – of two seconds per kilometer. « It’s hard to know what to expect. The conditions changing from the recce to the rally can make it very exciting and, of course, the tyre strategy can spice things up on the race compared with other events. “

Just behind Ogier, the gaps also make you dizzy: 7 drivers grouped together in just one and a half second, between 1:44.6 for the Frenchman and 1:46.1 for Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford), the 2019 world champion (7^th), four tenths behind his new teammate, young Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet (6^th).

Last but not least, the reigning World Champion, Kalle Rovanperä, is ready to go. He clocked the 2^nd time this morning, three tenths only behind his glorious team-mate at Toyota Gazoo Racing. Can’t wait for the first two special stages on Thursday evening!

Three undisputable headliners of the 91st edition of Rally Monte-Carlo kicked off this Thursday morning at the “shakedown” between Sainte-Agnès and Peille (2.29km): Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), an 8-time World Champion, in search of a 9^th record success in the Principality, Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), the multiple vice-World Champion, often placed, never crowned, and Estonian Ott Tänak, the 2019 World Champion, back at M-Sport Ford, in the team that allowed him to burst on the rally scene.

One rally driver is missing, the legendary Sébastien Loeb, who won last year at the respectable age of 47, but he could not reasonably follow up, in such a short time, a superb 2^ndplace in the Dakar rally-raid, Sunday, with such a demanding rally as the Monte-Carlo. Even if the weather conditions are expected to be mild, with almost completely dry asphalt roads. And this regardless of the outside temperature when the crews will leave the Port of Monaco Service Park early in the morning.

We will also have to follow closely, of course, the youngest world champion in the history of the World Rally Championship (WRC): Finnish star Kalle Rovanperä, 22, crowned at the end of 2022 at the end of an incredible season for a driver with so limited experience. His calm is already legendary. It will serve him well during this 91st edition which, like all previous ones, will be tricky, difficult and complicated to manage.

For the second season of hybrid cars in the Rally1 category, inaugurated last year at the same time, the first stage times of 2023 will be known this Thursday evening in Col de Turini (SS1, 15.12km) and Col de Castillon (SS2, 24.90km), so close to Monaco. They will give an initial trend on the potential of the forces involved this year. With a special mention for another young driver: Pierre-Louis Loubet, starting his first full season at M-Sport Ford, the family team of Malcolm Wilson, alongside Tänak. Very promising!

Creating something new out of something old! For this 91st edition, the Automobile Club de Monaco provided all 400 accredited media with “upcycled” products, notably from old posters or advertising banners. These materials are given a second life in a spirit of recycling, recovery and environmental preservation. When you upcycle, you upgrade.

As a result of the combined work of the Automobile Club de Monaco, the promoter of the World Rally Championship and the FIA, the Rallye Monte-Carlo will again be broadcast in its totality this year on the TV channels of the Canal Group, with 2 special stages broadcast in free-to-air.

A special programme for a legendary rally. With the presence of 8-time Rallye Monte-Carlo winner Julien Ingrassia as co-driver, with Laurent Dupin and Manon David, and commentary provided by Stéphane Genti and Nicolas Ciamin, the Canal Group will be offering a unique coverage of this 91st edition. In addition, the Rallye Monte-Carlo will be broadcast continuously on Canal+ on Sunday morning from 7.50am to the PowerStage podium, with 4 special stages on the programme and features during the liaison times.

Monaco Info will be there to follow the Official Start from the Place du Casino on Thursday at 6.25pm. “Les Experts du Rallye” (Vanessa Dessi, Frédéric Helion, Christophe Pacaud, Franck Phillips) will review the stages of the day: Thursday 19 – 11.30pm / Friday 20 – 9pm / Saturday 21 – 10.30pm / Sunday 22 – 6.30pm.

There will be 75 crews starting from 6.30pm on Thursday 19th January from the Casino Square in Monte Carlo. In total, 10 cars will be entered in the WRC category, 27 in WRC2, 5 in RGT and 33 amateurs.

The battle for victory is sure to be fierce! Kalle Rovanperä – Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (2022 World Champion), Sébastien Ogier – Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (8 Times World Champion & 8-Times Monte-Carlo’s winner), Ott Tanäk – M-Sport Ford WRT (2019 World Champion) and Thierry Neuville – Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT (2020 Monte-Carlo’s Winner) are all 4 main favourites. The suspense should also be there in the secondary categories (WRC 2 / RGT / non-priority).

Discover the official entry list

With less than a month to go before the start, discover the detailed maps of the 2023 Rallye Monte-Carlo route. In the Spectators Area of this page, under the heading Maps, have a look on the interactive maps via Google Maps and/or download the selected files.

Maps

Find also the access conditions to each public area (access roads, closing and reopening times), in order to plan your visit to this 91^st edition. Spectator information

We remind you that these areas are dedicated to the reception of the public (marked by green net or green tape), with a minimum overhang of 1.50 m and out of the path of the competitors. Outside these areas, spectators are not permitted. It is not permitted to enter the special stages and to move around in them, on the road or on the shoulders, 30 minutes before the start of the first competitor and until the end of the event. Failure to comply with these rules may result in the delay or cancellation of the special stage.