There will be four World Rally Champions, on Thursday, at the start of the 93rd Rallye Monte-Carlo, that’s two more than last year: Thierry Neuville has finally been crowned at the end of 2024, at the end of a season that was mastered from start to finish (2 wins, 6 podiums), and Kalle Rovanperä , who only contested 7 rallies last year (2 wins), is back full-time. If we add that Sébastien Ogier, eight-time World Champion and nine-time winner in the Principality, remains a luxury freelancer, and that Ott Tänak, crowned in 2019, has no desire to retire, that makes for four World Champions, with 12 titles between them.

Two of these World Champions, Belgium’s Neuville and Estonia’s Tänak, will be driving a Hyundai i20N, while the other two, France’s Ogier and Finland’s Rovanperä, will be at the wheel of a Toyota Yaris. But the Japanese Gazoo Racing will have the advantage of numbers, with Welshman Elfyn Evans and Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta also in their ranks, as they were last year, and a newcomer, Sami Pajari (23), crowned champion last year in the WRC2 category. There will be a total of five Toyotas competing in the queen category, as well as three Hyundai cars, since Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux has joined the Korean team following an excellent season (5 podiums) with Ford M-Sport. To complete the line-up, two Ford Pumas have been entered by Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport team. They will be driven by Luxemburg’s Grégoire Munster and Irishman Josh McErlean, a 25-year-old graduate of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy.

As has been the case since the rally’s return to Hautes-Alpes last year, the service park for this 93rd Rallye Monte-Carlo will once again be based in Gap, in the main city of Seb Ogier’s native département. On roads he knows like the pockets of his overalls, the Frenchman from Toyota will be aiming for a tenth Monte Carlo victory, which would be a new all-time record. Provided he negotiates the many pitfalls of the 18 special stages on the menu, totalling 343km of timed sections, from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. Especially if the weather takes part, as snow is still possible in these mountains at the end of January.

A tough route

After the ritual shakedown on Wednesday, on the heights of Gap, everything will really get underway on Thursday, at siesta time, with the start ceremony in front of Casino de Monte-Carlo, broadcast live on the Automobile Club de Monaco’s Facebook account and YouTube channel. Then, in the evening, the first three special stages will total 54.16km of timed stages between Alpes de Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes. The first special stage is scheduled for 6pm between Digne-les-Bains and Chaudon-Norante (SS1, 19.01km). Then the second stage between Faucon-du-Caire and Bréziers (SS2, 21.18km), the longest stage of the first night. And the third, from 9pm, between Avançon and Notre-Dame-du-Laus (SS3, 13.97 km). Before a good night’s sleep in Gap.

On Friday, around Gap, there will be three special stages in the morning (SS4 to SS6) and the same three in the afternoon (SS7 to SS9), totalling 107.34km of timed sections, including Saint-Maurice/Aubessagne, the longest special stage of the day (18.68km). And on Saturday, there will be two more loops of three stages (SS10 to SS12, then SS13 to SS15), but in the Drôme, for a total of 131.4km of timed sections. This includes a very tricky 27km between La Motte-Chalancon and Saint-Nazaire, a great classic and the longest special stage of the rally. All that remains is the final morning’s racing, with 50.9km spread over three stages (SS16 to SS18) between Gap and Monaco. In keeping with tradition, the final stage will be the Power Stage between La Bollène-Vésubie and Peïra-Cava, via the iconic Col de Turini (start 12:15).

Family stories in WRC2

The ACM received 92 applications for 2025. It selected 70 crews, including 47 ‘priority’ drivers designated by the FIA. A word about the growing popularity of the FIA WRC2 category, which features Rally2-type cars that are less expensive to run but also offer excellent performance. The ACM has selected 24 crews for this race within the race, starting with Oliver Solberg, the son of Petter (2003 world champion), in a Toyota Yaris Rally2. There will also be Nikolay Gryazin (Škoda Fabia RS) and Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3), 3rd and 4threspectively in last year’s WRC2 championship. Yohan’s brother Léo Rossel, just crowned French asphalt champion, will be alongside his older brother in the French PH Sport team, while Charles Munster, Grégoire’s younger brother, will be driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally2.

Stéphane Sarrazin’s son Pablo, the former Subaru driver turned team boss, will drive a Citroën C3 for Sarrazin Motorsport. Another of the French team’s C3s is entered for Sarah Rumeau and Julie Amblard, an all-female pairing supported by Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA). Finally, because goodness knows no lies, Eliott Delecour, the 17-year-old son of François Delecour, will be making his international debut on this Rallye Monte-Carlo, 34 years after his father’s podium finish in 1991 in a Ford Sierra Cosworth, his first in the WRC. Eliott will drive an Opel Corsa in the Rally4 category.

An army of volunteers

This promises to be a great event, and it will also be possible thanks to the hundreds of volunteer marshals and officials who, among the more than two thousand people mobilised and supervised by the ACM, will ensure the safety and smooth running of this 93rdMonte-Carlo Rally. ‘This is a mythical rally, maybe the most mythical and prestigious of all. Every WRC driver dreams of winning it at least once,’ sums up Thierry Neuville. He’s Belgian, he’s the current World Champion, he’s already won twice in the Principality (2020, 2024). He knows what he’s talking about and he’s one of the favourites…