After a Porsche one-two in RS10, the Stuttgart-based marque did it again early this afternoon in RS11 between Sainte-Jalle and Rémuzat (16km), thanks to the 911 SC of Italians Mario Piantelli and Fabio Cambie. But a Lancia was just behind on the timesheet, the Fulvia of Swiss title holders Claudio Enz and Cristina Seeberger.

Behind the Italian Porsche, the Swiss Lancia, carrying race number 1, was tied with three other cars, the VW Golf GTi of Eric Mallen and Jean-Louis Rimet (#60), the BMW 2002 Ti of Pierre and Jules André (#74) and the two inevitable Belgians in their red Sunbeam Tiger (#203), Maxime Castelein and Filip Deplancke, once again at the front, having already proved themselves the best in RS3 on Saturday and RS8 on Sunday.

This 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique is turning more and more into a duel between German and Italian cars, as both countries have monopolised stage wins since the start of the Classification Leg on Saturday morning. After RS11, the very provisional score is 5-3 for Germany (Porsche 3, BMW 1, Opel 1) vs Italy (Lancia 2, Alfa Romeo 1). The other three SRs were won by Sunbeam (2) and Citroën.

The 26^th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique had not seen such a domination by German manufacturers until this Monday morning in RS10: Porsche took the honour of a one-two finish between Laborel and Montauban sur l’Ouvèze (19.7km), and four other German cars made it into the Top 7.

The start of this RS was set up in front of the Monte Carlo Rally Museum, created from scratch by a fan of the event as well as a keen collector, who has amassed a wealth of memorabilia over the years. Not to mention the fact that the village of Laborel goes out of its way to decorate its square every time an ACM event passes through.

Behind the two Porsches tied for 1^st place in this RS10, the blue 911 turbo of Spaniards Alvaro Ochagavias Temino and Manuel Macho Gomez, number 4, and the 924 of Luc and Louis Dumas, number 118, we saw the divine surprise appearance of the Ford Capri of Bruno Saby and Denis Giraudet: it was bound to retire on Sunday until its mechanics worked miracles by repairing its transmission.

Behind this remarkable trio, the places of honour went to four other German cars: two other Porsches, a 911 and a 924, an Opel Kadett GTE and even an Audi 80 GLE entered by a Belgian crew, Jean-Pierre Vannerum and Nicolas Plas. All in all, 6 places in the Top 7 of this stage, which took place entirely in the Drôme Provençale region of France. With all the windows down to make the most of the spring-like weather.

There was a long pause between the first and second wins of a Lancia Fulvia in a regularity stage of the 26^th Monte Carlo Historic Rally. And so we had to wait until Monday morning, between Valdrôme (Drôme) and La Piarre (Hautes-Alpes), to see another pretty Italian coupé, in 1.6 HF version, succeed the one that opened the ball in SR1.

This time, over a distance of just 11.9 km, up and down the Col de Carabes (1261 m) in sunshine that gradually cleared away the morning fog, it was a French team that achieved the average time closest to the one suggested by the organisers: Olivier and Côme Martin, in a 1969 Lancia Fulvia, did slightly better than the four teams tied for 2^nd place.

The field of four cars that received 50 penalty points each (compared with 30 for the winning Lancia) included two Porsches, the 911 with number 9 and the 924 with number 118, but above all a superb Peugeot 504 V6 Coupé (photo), that of François and Benoît Méon (number 83), which dates back to 1975, and an equally superb Lancia Beta Monte-Carlo entered by Gabriel Valentin and Laurent Bertaut, with number 86 on its doors.

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.

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!