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Fifty years after its maiden overall win on the Monte-Carlo Rally in 1971, Alpine returned to the crown jewel of the FIA World Rally Championship calendar. Despite tricky and unpredictable conditions, the five Alpine A110 Rallys at the start made it to the finish and dominated the FIA R-GT and two-wheel drive categories.
Victorious on its reappearance on the world rally scene last month at the ACI Rally Monza, Alpine renewed its relationship with a genuine motorsport monument this weekend.
Known for its atypical conditions that can include rain, snow, ice and fog in the same special stage, the Monte-Carlo Rally remains one of the most prestigious events on the international calendar.
Dreaded by everyone, its challenges enabled Alpine to forge its legend: first with the category win of Jacques Feret with the Alpine A108 in 1964, then the success of Ove Andersson in the Alpine A110 1600S in 1971, and finally the sweep of the podium by the Alpine A110 1800s to begin the World Rally Championship in 1973.
Despite an itinerary adapted to curfew measures and an edition held without spectators, the 89th Monte-Carlo Rally lived up to all its promise by offering competitors the full range of all the possible traps for the 110th anniversary of the event.
In his first Monte-Carlo Rally, Manu Guigou led the Alpine A110 Rallys to victory in the R-GT and two-wheel drive categories while finishing 22nd overall. Leader of the R-GT category from SS2, the Frenchman won ahead of 2018 FIA R-GT Champion Raphaël Astier and Cédric Robert.
Thanks to these impressive performances, Alpine can worthily celebrate the 50th anniversary of its first overall victory in Monte-Carlo in 1971. Just like this year, Alpine demonstrated extraordinary reliability as five of the Alpine A110s entered officially completed the rally back then!
Thierry Neuville – Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai), winner
“We had an incredible feeling the last couple of days and we were able to catch back the time. We have been chasing this win for a while but we showed our performance this weekend and it’s a great way to start the season.”
Sébastien Ogier – Julien Ingrassia (Toyota), 2ème
“I think we can be happy with the start of the season and starting with a podium with the new team is very good. There is some way to go to extract all of the potential from this car but I really enjoyed it.”
Elfyn Evans – Scott Martin (Toyota), 3ème
“We were happy until last night – I can’t say I have been happy today. It never really clicked really and I’m not sure of the reason. There’s some work to do but overall a positive weekend.”
After SS 12, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin lead the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2020.
One day to go and you lead Monte Carlo, Elfyn. How was your day?
Not easy, to be honest. Looking back I’ve maybe been a bit careful at times, but at the same time we have to count our lucky stars – we were properly in ditch on last stage, but every now and then you need a bit of luck. Overall it’s been pretty solid, but it was probably our run through that second stage this morning that has put us in this position now.
That second stage was incredible. Did you surprise yourself?
Maybe a little bit. It’s very difficult, you try to balance the risk with how much you push when you know you have an ice section at the end of that stage. It’s difficult to know how much to manage. I tried to be as smooth as I could and we had a good run over the ice – but I can’t tell you if it worked or not.
There’s just 6.4 seconds between you all tonight- what do you have to do to take this victory?
We have to stay focused and keep doing everything we can. We’re not sure what we’re going to be faced with tomorrow yet. Hopefully it’ll be a little bit nicer conditions than today, but you can never tell with Turini. We know we’re going to be pushed very, very hard all of the way. There’s nothing we can do about that, we have to just keep going.
Tricky conditions coming tomorrow – what do you think you’ll do about tyres?
Luckily we don’t do it tonight, or it would be a lottery. Turini is always challenging, it’s never an easy section. I’m sure we can do well. We already had a big fight with Thierry last year, so we know the notes are proved, but the driving has to be delivered tomorrow. The feeling is good in the Yaris, I hope this can carry on tomorrow.
You have six wins on the trot here, but still you want this win so bad tomorrow…
It’s quite funny we fight so hard for this victory. Monte Carlo must be so important to win, because we know if we win this one then we know we will not win the next one – we would be in trouble in Sweden or Mexico opening the road. But it shows how important Monte Carlo is in our eyes, it’s maybe the most iconic round of the championship. I’m sure it will be interesting for the fans tomorrow and I’m sure we’re going to have fun.
Maybe a little blip this morning Thierry, but a really strong afternoon…
I don’t know if there was a blip, to be honest. We have also done quite well over the day, but Elfyn was incredibly fast on that second stage – he surprised us all I think. You just have to be cautious in a couple of places and you easily lose one or two seconds in a couple of corners. At the end of the stage you lose 10 seconds in one stage and it’s hard to catch that back. I’m really happy we were able to set two fastest times this afternoon and come back to the fight for the lead.
Everyone wants to win here?
Especially when you have been so close. We started the final stage last year with a similar gap to this one tonight and I have to copy and paste the first three stages and then do better in the Power Stage. We don’t know what it’s going to be like tomorrow, but I can tell you everybody will do their best and nobody will give up. We’re going to sweat a lot and it’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be an exciting battle.
Is Elfyn ready to step up to the fight for the title?
I think it’s not just a feeling, the proof is there – he is sitting in the middle tonight. We have already been in this situation in Corsica last year. He has a great talent and a great speed and he feels very comfortable straight away with this new car – that’s promising for him and for everybody else in the coming events, but hopefully we can have the upper hand!
Accident of the Hyundai N°8 crew: TANAK Ott (drive) and JARVEOJA Martin (co-driver) in Special Stage N°4 “St Clément – Freissinières” which took place on Friday 24th January at 10:04 am at km 9.2.
The car left the road at high speed and after several rolls ended on a road below the rally road. Both occupants exited the vehicle on their own and were reportedly free of serious injuries. They were examined by the Doctor of Automobile Club of Monaco, who arrived at the scene at 10:09. Then the Dragon helicopter, which arrived on site at 10:34 and departed at 10:36 for Gap Hospital, evacuated them. On their arrival at 11:04, the crew TANAK Ott (driver) and JARVEOJA Martin (co-driver) was taken over by the medical team of the Emergency Department where further examinations were done. The medical status is comforting but as a matter of precaution and because of the strength of the impact, the doctors have decided to keep the crew under observation until Saturday morning.
After SS 8, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia lead the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2020.
Séb, tell us about your day…
Overall it’s been a good day. The morning was not bad, but Elfyn definitely did better. In this case you know there’s room to improve if your team-mate is going faster. I worked at the midday service on the set-up and with my gravel-note crew. I was not having so much confidence, they were too much on the safe side and we lose time with that. But overall I’m happy with the day, we stay ahead of Thierry, it’s not a big gap, but we have to continue like this.
We saw Thierry open a big gap on stage two last night, but today shows things change quickly…
That’s the rally where a gap can happen, we know that’s possible. From what I heard there might still be some surprises coming before the end of the weekend. Tomorrow we can still have some ice, it’s not so much, but when you drive with the slick tyre it’s not easy. The feeling is good and I hope we can stay in the fight to the end.
It’s been your first full day with the team, how’s it been?
Yeah, step–by–step. It wasn’t perfect this morning, I did’t have so much confidence, especially on the bumpy section. But in the same time, like we discussed Elfyn was able to do better, and when your team-mate can do this there’s room [for you] to go faster. Sometimes you don’t need much change, we did small things at midday and I felt better in the afternoon.
Elfyn, you dominated the morning – were you surprised at the speed you showed so early on?
We knew the testing had been good, but you can never know how that will translate onto the rally. To be honest, I felt immediately quite comfortable in the car. I found the feeling from the test and that gave me confidence to drive well. I wasn’t trying to be crazy or stupid, just drive to a good rhythm. But this is tricky, this is the Monte and it never feels so safe. We’ll continue to drive well stage-by-stage. Seb turned the screw a little bit this afternoon, let’s see what comes tomorrow.
Do you have more pace?
At the end of the day this is Monte Carlo, it’s not really the rally where you take crazy risks. I have to hope to find the good feeling from the morning.
There’s a tricky stage to start tomorrow – it’s the one that caught you out last year…
Yeah, we were just discussing that. There might be a little bit more of a lift, I’ll give him [Ogier] a few tenths there.
Thierry, you had an amazing time in the second stage last night, but there’s still all to play for here?
Definitely there’s still all play for. We are still in the fight for victory. I hope for a much better day. We had the good feeling yesterday, it was a great start and I was able to drive very fast in tricky conditions. This morning was all more complicated and I struggle for rhythm and I could not find confidence. I worked with Dani to improve our language to get more competitive and each stage was starting to look a little bit better. I look forward to tomorrow.
Dani Sordo is your safety crew driver – you’re his boss now!
Dani is a very nice guy and I’m very happy the way he jumped in when Brun [Thiry] got sick. This was the only quick solution and he is one of the only guys I put a lot of confidence in. I will try to improve our collaboration, but of course it’s only for this rally. On the next rally we are competitors again.
You saw the marks where your team-mate Ott Tänak went off, that slowed you down?
That’s not what you want to see when somebody goes off at such a fast place. I thought he had restarted because people were slowing me down, so I thought he’d gone [off] again. I was told at the end of the stage he’d had a big crash. Now we have all seen the footage, it’s very impressive. It’s good to see our cars are safe.
January, Wednesday 22 – After the Shakedown
Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) – 1st
Seb, how do you feel? Good to be back?
I always feel good to be here. Monte Carlo is a special place. For some years the rally has come to Gap and this is a big chance to start the season at home. There’s a lot of support, but that brings a lot of pressure. Everybody expects that we can win, maybe we won too much in a row – everybody thinks it’s easy to win! I’m very excited, there’s a lot of change, a lot of drivers in the new cars. There’s still lots to learn to be 100 per cent confident, but definitely it’s good potential and it’s looking good for the new season.
What about the conditions?
We have seen very tricky conditions in the recce, actually maybe not so tricky – there was lots of ice so it would be easy for the tyre choice, it would be studs. But now it’s positive temperatures and its melting quick and this will be a more challenging tyre choice. Thursday night is always tricky here. I think if you measure the heart beat at the start of night stage, probably it will be higher for all of the drivers. But there’s lots of excitement at the start of the year.
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) – 2nd
Thierry so many changes, but more of the same for you. You were close last year here, looking forward to this one?
It was a very nice rally, a nice battle with Sebastien [Ogier] last year – he was a bit faster on the last stage. We were pretty close, we try to do the same again this year but we try to beat him on the final stage.
It’s a big challenge ahead this year?
The last couple of seasons have been tough. The WRC needs lot of engagement from me, my co-driver and the whole team. It’s a tough championship, rallying can be crucial but sometimes you need some luck. Up and down for everybody last year, close, hope more exciting to the finish and we can be in the fight.
Elfyn Evans (Toyota) – 3rd
Elfyn all change for you after a lot of years at M-Sport, you’re with Toyota. How’s that going?
The feeling in the car and the team is pretty good. It was a big change after many, many years at M-Sport. It’s nice to have a new challenge. I’m looking forward to it.
Is it your time to shine this year, Mr Evans?
Of course, we’re all here to compete and to win. It would be very nice, but we come to every rally, we’re not going to think too long term, what will be will be and we’ll do the best we can.
© Photos : Jo Lillini
Sébastien Ogier (leader – Citroën C3 WRC)
Tell me about your day Sébastien?
It’s been another tricky day, especially the first stage both times through. They were tricky and changeable conditions. We needed to stay with the studs – at least the tyres has been a bit more straightforward today. But still I am happy to be here sitting in the middle, even if we didn’t increase the gap much. Tomorrow will be another intense day.
There are some legendary stages tomorrow – what do you know about conditions?
I don’t know much yet, we will have our gravel crew tomorrow morning. It should be mainly dry, but it will be cold icy and frosty on the top – there will be places to make a difference… and a mistake! We both want to win, everybody wants win Monte Carlo, it’s a magical rally we all enjoy a lot. We have made a big difference from the rest and we both want to cross the finish line. Second could be good for the championship, but I’m pretty sure Thierry will push to the end and we will do the same.
If you won tomorrow, you would join Walter Rohrl as a driver winning this event with four manufacturers and it would be Citroen’s 100th win – does that add pressure?
Those statistics are very nice, but that’s not what you have in mind when you are driving. Of course it would be great to do that, to take six wins in row and seven in Monte Carlo. I always say if I have a bad season and I can win only one rally then it would be this one – this is why I try tomorrow. I will fight tomorrow.
Thierry Neuville (2nd at 4″3 – Hyundai i20 WRC)
Thierry, what’s the plan tomorrow?
Obviously first of all we had a great day today, it was really enjoyable in the car and we really tried to catch Seb, but it’s always difficult when we are on the same tyres on stages which we know. All in all, it’s been a good day. We look forward to tomorrow, the plan is to catch Seb and to keep the pressure, but also we must think about the championship. We have to think about this.
Thinking about the championship, does that mean the little extra risk not there?
I always try to drive without risks. Of course there are risks, but I try to be on the safe side. When we are in a fight, like in Sardinia last year you try to push a little harder. Tomorrow we have some demanding stages, we don’t know about the conditions and we have to do four stages on the same tyres.
What was the gap going into the final day in Sardinia last year?
It was 4.3! No… it was 2.8 or something. A little bit less.
Sébastien Loeb (3rd at 1’58″7 – Hyundai i20 WRC)
Sebastien, you have battled hard today, but you have two drivers chasing you hard for third…
Yes, for sure. I was struggling a little bit with my set-up. I couldn’t get the confidence from the understeer in the morning, especially with the tricky conditions in the stage. But in the afternoon I was able to get my confidence and I could push harder. I have Jari-Matti just two seconds behind and [Ott] Tanak closing the gap with every stage, so I don’t know what I will be able to do tomorrow. We are not in the fight for the win, but for the podium. I will try to find a good rhythm to stay on the podium.
And how do you feel physically?
I am always motivated, for sure the motivation is a bit different – I’m not here to win the championship, but I am here to help Hyundai take some points. I always want to fight for the victory if I can, that’s not the case here. It was a tough month of January with a lot of driving, but I enjoy driving and it’s a long time since I was here at the start in Monte Carlo. I always enjoy the incredible atmosphere on this rally.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia win the 86th Rallye Monte-Carlo on Ford Fiesta WRC. Sixth victory in Monaco and fifth in a row. Second place for the estonian Ott Tanak and third place for the finnish Jari-Matti Latvala, both on Toyota Yaris WRC.
Seb, another win on what’s been a tough Rallye Monte-Carlo. How’s it been for you?
Sébastien Ogier: Once again it was a huge challenge. We always come here knowing it’s going be a difficult week and a tough event to make the good tyre choice. Ott was a difficult contender, but it’s also always very good to be here on the podium. Of course, I’m very pleased, this is the best way to start the season. It’s good to come back and start the season this way, it’s special, but I never struggled so much to be right with the tyres. It was never super-clear with the conditions changing all the time. It’s good that we managed to do less mistakes than the others, it was almost impossible to do the perfect weekend and we did mistakes as well. Ours were small mistakes with small consequences and that’s how we did this for the fifth time in the row. It feels good.
How tough was Saturday morning?
It was definitely one of the hardest stages of my career to drive in this moment. It was hard to explain how tough, I wasn’t complaining but it was not enjoyable to drive. It was about surviving. You come to the finish with a big relief and you’re super-happy crossing the line, but you have no idea if you are one minute slower or faster. It was a good surprise to see we took the minute compared to Ott. From then on we had the chance to try and manage the gap, but it was not easy. All the day it was tricky with the tyre to control in those conditions. It would have been super-easy to fall out of position. I’m happy to manage to keep the gap yesterday night. I expected today to be easier, but when we wake up we have news of frost and black ice to deal with on Turini. It was tricky until the end.
What was the plan for the Power Stage?
I couldn’t be completely relaxed and not really go for it. I knew with Thierry and Ott that we were fighting for two points. Thierry, Andreas and Craig had the four soft tyres for the Power Stage. I had worn super softs and not the right things to be fast, so I tried to drive clean. The road was clean at the beginning, but then we had some dirty corners at the finish and I couldn’t go for it. Every point is important at the moment, so I’m happy with this single point.
What did you think of Malcolm Wilson’s performance as Team Principal, was it good?
I had better say yes, I guess! It’s always difficult to start the season in Monte-Carlo on the hardest event in terms of organisation, logistics, meteo and co-ordination – all of that is tricky. We had some changes in the team, some new engineers, a new meteo forecaster who is unfortunately from Estonia – that’s why we got it wrong sometimes! No, I mean when we know how hard it is, we have to congratulate all of them, they have all tried as hard as they can.
How difficult was your job this week?
Julien Ingrassia: Each time we’re here on the podium – and my rivals say the same – we’re here without any breath for one full week. Congratulations to all the co-drivers on doing a very good job, all the guys do the same as me. It’s a very difficult position to get the notes and read new notes which are completely different from what you have on the recce. You memorise some of these notes and then they are completely different, I realise sometimes I was just reading and not analysing what I was saying. There were a lot of changes of rhythm, so it’s really good when the driver is still trusting you in the car.
It’s a great start to the season…
Yes. We know the championship will be hard and Monte-Carlo is special, this is the city of Seb and my region and it reminds me of one year ago. We have to thank those guys, it’s one year on and now we have to start again for everything – it’s a big motivation.
Sebastien, a good day, but a bit of a moment this afternoon, tell us about that…
SO: If I sit here in the middle it is not so bad, but the second part of the day was not so good. I lost 40s with the spin and for sure there are a couple of people I have to thank – they help me when I went off on the exit of the hairpin. Without that it would be a more comfortable lead. I’m enjoying the fight with my friend Ott – but tomorrow we have to be on it from the start.
Can you psyche him out?
Inside he’s different he tries not to show it, if he comes too close I have to play a trick…
We expect a change of conditions tomorrow – what if it snows?
It can be interesting and I’m happy I’m not first on the road if the snow is coming it can be difficult – I didn’t use this advantage today [of being first on the road], but without the spin it would be close. We struggle a bit with the tyre and weather information today, I think I need a word with Ott… we have the Estonian guy doing our forecast… Ott was right all the time and we were wrong! More seriously, tomorrow we have to be right [with tyre choice].
Ott, what an incredible first full day – did you imagine this was possible?
OT: Definitely it would have been difficult to dream about this before the rally. For the moment we can’t complain, the conditions have been tricky this afternoon and the car is still going well. Since the beginning I had a good feeling in the car and that’s a good sign.
What can you do to get closer to Seb?
As we can see today, he’s getting old and starting to do mistakes, he’s a bit sleepy in places, I don’t know what he’s doing… Tomorrow he will be more tired and more sleepy. No… Sebastien is strong, these are his home roads and we play in his backyard, it’s been enjoyable and now let’s see what’s possible.
Dani, what can we see from you tomorrow?
DS: We do a couple of small mistakes with the tyres in difficult conditions today, we lost a bit of time. Sebastien was pushing really hard and his times were tough to follow, tomorrow will be a hard and long day – we’ll see what we can do.
Confident in the snow and ice?
It will be difficult if it’s snowing – ok we already have one stage in snow and tricky downhill (Sisteron). It will be the same for everybody, we need the right tyres and we try to do our best.
Thierry how do you feel about the new season?
Everybody is excited about the year ahead. I’m really looking forward to it. Last year was a great season, but this year hopefully can be even greater. I was the best performer last year, but I did not clinch the title – that was the objective. I’m looking forward to a challenging and intense season.
How’s the car set-up?
The set-up is good, I’m very confident we have a good setting we had a good test and the car is pretty similar to last year, so yes I’m pretty confident.
Tell us about Sisteron in reverse…
That’s going to be really tough to be honest. We have never done the stage in this direction and we only did it once per year in the other way, so it’s not a stage we know well. We should wait for a lot of surprises, especially in the cold and in the dark.
