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The first regularity stage of the 27th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, between Col Gaudissart, the entry point into the Massif du Vercors, and Cîme du Mas, just outside La-Chapelle-en-Vercors (SR1, 18.1km), started as scheduled at 9.20am on Saturday morning for the 215 crews who had checked in Valence on Friday (out of the 219 who started on Thursday from four cities, Monaco, Reims, Bad Hombourg and Turin). And it enabled two small cars, an Austin Mini Cooper S and a Fiat 128 Rallye, to beat all the big ones.
The first winning team of this 27th edition is not made up of unknowns. It is the Mini Cooper team of Italians Giorgio Schon and Francesco Giammarino, led by Giorgio, an endurance driver in his younger days. The Fiat team was 100% Greek, made of Georgios Alevizopoulos and Nikolaos Palyvos. They finished tied with the Italians, with only a 100-point penalty score on this RS1, quite a performance. At the other end of the standings, the car ranked 215th in this stage, a Porsche 911, took 30,000 penalty points over 18 km. But they made it to the finish!
This first RS1 in the Drôme (out of 17 scheduled until Tuesday evening) was covered in heavy snow in places (totally from km 2 to km 7, then partially from km 7 to km 15), and the ambient temperature at the start of the morning was just below 0°C. As a direct consequence, the many Porsche drivers of all ages (the drivers and the cars!), all equipped with a rear engine, had a lot of fun, while delighting the many spectators who braved the cold to get to the sides of this stage. The long drifts in slow motion, for fun, particularly on Col de l’Echarasson, can all be used as promotional videos for Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, the most legendary event of all.
