Upcoming Events
With just two weeks to go before the start of the recce for the 92nd Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, the Organising Committee revealed this Monday the Official Entry List of the 70 competitors who will be allowed to take part in the opening round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).
Against all expectations, the record holder, Sébastien Ogier, is back to defend his title. 9-times winner of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, the native of Gap will be competing in his home territory at the wheel of the Toyota Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.
The battle for victory is announced to be as indecisive as it is intense, with his team-mate Elfyn Evans of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team as the main opponent at the start, as well as the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT drivers Ott Tanäk (2019 World Champion) and Thierry Neuville (2020 Winner).
The suspense is also there in the other categories, starting with WRC2. Some of the headliners include Yohan Rossel, Nikolay Gryazin, Oliver Solberg, Nicolas Ciamin, Stéphane Lefebvre and Bryan Bouffier, who won the Monte in 2011 and is making his comeback to the world circuit for the occasion.
In total, there were 8 cars in the top category representing the 3 Official Manufacturers, 24 in WRC2, 3 in WRC3 and 35 non-priority competitors (RGT & amateurs) where the Selection Committee had to make crucial choices. “We registered 112 applications, and 93 of them met the criteria set out in our Supplementary Regulations. Unfortunately, we had to reject 23 of them,” says Eric BARRABINO, General Commissioner of the Automobile Club de Monaco and Director of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, with some regret. “As an organiser, having to turn down participants is not something you do easily, believe us! I won’t get into the details of the real puzzle that the selection represents, but a multitude of criteria have been considered to ensure that, in the end, some twenty regional drivers will be able to take part against an international elite. Right now, you are bound to be making some people happy… and, unfortunately, some unhappy! Our dearest wish is now to be able to find, in the long term, an area of more than 30,000 m2 to increase the capacity of the Service Park and give us the possibility to accept all entries, both professional and amateur…“.
The 92nd Rallye Monte-Carlo kicks off in just over a month’s time! Discover the detailed maps of the 2024 route. Click on Spectator Area on this page.
Find also the access conditions to each public area (access roads, closing and reopening times), in order to plan your visit to this 91st edition.
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.
The countdown is on! With less than 50 days to go until the 92nd Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, the Organising Committee of the 2024 WRC season’s first round organised a one-day rehearsal for its volunteers on Sunday December 3, 2023. On the agenda: training, practice and a review of their skills. For more than 40 years, the aim of the “Circuit Routier d’Instructions Commissaires” (C.R.I.C.) is to ensure that rally procedures and regulations are properly applied.
Nearly 165 volunteers from the Corps des Commissaires were mobilised to recreate a fictive rally, between the Chapiteau de Fontvieille in Monaco and the roads of the Monegasque hinterland. Over 100km and 3 Special Stages were on the agenda, with the Côte d’Azur sun shining down on the crews and volunteer teams this year.
“The C.R.I.C. comes after 2 theoretical sessions which gave to the marshals the opportunity to review the procedures, regulations and the IT tools used during the events” explains Cyril Vada, in charge of the formation and Deputy Race Director of the Monte-Carlo Rallies. Then comes the practical part.
After the briefings that kicked off the first part of the day, the volunteer teams were divided up along the route and put through their paces in real-life conditions, with around 20 competitors in attendance. “Our Marshals were confronted with several different situations: special stage interruptions, incidents and race facts, special stage start suspensions, late check-in, etc“.
Observers and evaluators were present to check and grade the level of each marshal and chief officer, following the example of what is put in place in the spring for the circuit training course. “Their reactions and attitudes are carefully scrutinised“. A level of requirement that is in keeping with the spirit of the Corps of Commissaires. “We are the only organisers involved in the World Rally Championship to offer our marshals this kind of training. “
Next up in January 2024 for the Rallye Monte-Carlo WRC (22-28/01) and the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique (31/01-07/02).
The Organising Committee of the 92nd Rally Monte-Carlo WRC has published the Supplementary Regulations for the event on Wednesday 22 November, at the same time as it officially opened the entry form.
First Round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship Season, the event will take place from Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th, over a mostly new route. The French departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Drôme and Isère will host the Rallye Monte-Carlo, as well as the Principality of Monaco for the start and prize-giving ceremony from the Place du Casino.
You can already find the Supplementary Regulations for the event in the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2024, Competitors’ Area > Official Documents, where all the entry and participation conditions are detailed.
Entries are open until Friday 22 December 2023. You can find the entry procedure in the following link “Entries 2024“.
With four months to go before the 92nd Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, the Organizing Committee unveiled the Official Event Poster on Friday. Competitors can also look out for the Rally Guide!
Following the tradition of the event, the focus is on the title-holding car, the Toyota Yaris GR Rally 1 of Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais, in a mountainous setting with the colors of the Principality, symbols of this 2024 chapter.
With 14 mountain passes to cross over the 17 special stages spread across 5 French departments, the route of this inaugural round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) has moved up in latitude – and therefore in altitude – in the hope of an even snowier course than in previous editions.
This is also the occasion for the Organizing Committee to publish the Rally Guide 1, which can be downloaded from Competitors’ Area > Official Documents. This document will provide future competitors with the best possible preparation for their participation in this 92nd edition.
The schedule of upcoming publications is given below:
· Wednesday November 22, 2023: Publication of the Supplementary Regulations – Opening of entries
· Friday, December 22, 2023: Publication of Rally Guide 2, Road Book and maps – Closing date for entries
· Monday, December 18, 2023: Deadline for tire and fuel orders
· Monday, January 8, 2024: Publication of entry list & Deadline for opening car registration
Join us from January 22 to 28, 2024 for the 92nd Rally Automobile Monte-Carlo.
With 14 passes on the way, in 17 special stages spread over 5 French departments, the route for this inaugural event of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) has moved up in latitude as well as altitude, following a strong wish of the Organizing Committee at Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM), hoping for more snow on the roads than in previous editions.
After two and a half strenuous days of recce, from Monday January 22 to Wednesday January 24, all crews allowed to start will operate in real racing conditions from 4:01 pm that Wednesday, during the Shakedown (3.35km). On the same road portion that was introduced in 2017, Route de la Garde in Gap, a partner city which already played host to the rally from 2014 to 2021.
The official start of this 92nd edition of Monte-Carlo Rally will be given the next day, Thursday January 25 at 4:52pm on Casino Square in Monaco. On the menu of the 1st Leg, two timed stages in total darkness for a total of 46.01km, in the departments of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes. These two legendary stages, « Thoard / Saint-Geniez » (SS1 – 20.82km – 8:35 pm) and « Bayons / Bréziers » (SS2 – 25.19km – 9:58 pm) will serve as reality checks for the expected major players in the championship.
On Friday January 26, crews will be heading for the East of Gap, where the 2nd Leg will be spread over two departments (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes) for a total of 106.10 timed kilometers. With a loop of three special stages to cover twice, made of « Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes / La Bâtie-Neuve » (SS3/6 – 16.87km – 9:06 am/2:53 pm), followed by « Champcella / Saint-Clément-sur-Durance » (SS4/7 – 17.87km – 10:34 am/4:21 pm) and « La Bréole / Selonnet » (SS5/8 – 18.31km – 12:02 pm/5:49 pm), setting up a very intense race day!
The West of Gap will be on the cards for Saturday January 27 when the 3rd Leg covers three departments (Hautes-Alpes, Drôme, Isère) for a total of 134.86 timed kilometers. Again, with a loop of three stages not so close to each other, to complete twice, for what will probably be the toughest race day of the week. On the menu, « Sigottier / Valdrôme » (SS9/12 – 20.89km – 8:35 am/2:05 pm), followed by « Les Nonières / Chichilianne » (SS10/13 – 20.08km – 9:53 am/3:23 pm) and « Pellafol / Agnières-en-Dévoluy » (SS11/14 – 26.46km – 11:06 am/4:36 pm). There will certainly be several ups and downs during this strenuous 3rd Leg.
In order to conclude the event in style, on Sunday January 28, three stages totalling 51.65 kilometers will be scheduled between Gap and Monaco. This will be a brand new feature for a Final Leg and the last fights for honours will happen on « La Bréole / Selonnet » (SS15 – 18.31km – 7:04 am), followed by « Digne-les-Bains / Chaudon-Norante » (SS16 – 19.04km – 8:35 am) and, last but not least, « La Bollène-Vésubie / Col de Turini » (SS17 – 14.30km – 12:15 pm) which will serve as Power Stage. The Prize Ceremony will then take place, as usual, on Casino Square, from 4:15 pm…
Timings and stage lengths are indicative until official publication of the Rally Route.
(January 22-28, 2024*)
Due to major works, it was unable to secure all the space required to maintain the service park and the various infrastructures in the Principality. Therefore, the Organizing Committee of the Automobile Club de Monaco decided to return to the Hautes-Alpes department, more precisely to Gap, the host city from 2014 to 2021.
However, the official start, finish and prize-giving ceremony of the event will continue to be held in Monaco.
The detailed route of this 92nd edition, which will take place from 22 to 28 January 2024, will be announced next month…
Monaco, le 6th June 2023
© ACM - Olivier Caenen, Patrick Domeyne, Jo Lillini
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”.
