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This was the final regularity stage of the Common Leg of the 27th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, between Briançonnet and Entrevaux (RS15, 14.1km), via Col du Buis (1196m) and Col de Félines (926m). On the same road where, in January 2022, Sébastien Loeb and Isabelle Galmiche claimed a historic victory, Loeb’s 80th in the WRC, beating Sébastien Ogier and Benjamin Veillas by the narrowest of margins (10.5 seconds) in the final hairpins on the descent to Entrevaux.
This time, a much smaller car, the Austin Mini Cooper S of Italians Giorgio Schon and Francesco Giammarino, finished alone in the lead, with 80 penalty points. And on the roll of honour of this superb stage, we find an explosive cocktail tied in 2nd place, with 100 penalty points: the Jaguar of Lithuania’s Raysis and Meilunas, the Lancia Fulvia of Italians Rossi and Frascaroli, the Porsche 911 turbo of the Rollan family, Alvaro and Juan. While the overall leaders, as reasonable as ever, settled for 7th place, enabling them to consolidate their status as great favourites for the overall win, with a 360-point lead over the BMW 323i of Spaniards Climent Asensio and Jimenez Valls.
Schon and Giammarino have been at the forefront since the start of the rally, when they won the opening stage on Friday morning (SR1). They have already had a successful rally and, as they have never given up anything, their win in SR15 will give them the opportunity to start the Final Leg, from 9pm tonight, in 4th place overall, with a real chance of a podium finish should their compatriots in a Lancia Fulvia, Rossi and Frascaroli, fail on the night of the Turini.
The night of the Turini promises to be formidable, with two stages that are well known to most of the competitors, two monuments where whole pages of the legend of Rallye Monte-Carlo were written. First up is Col de Braus – Lantosque (RS16, 34.4km), with no fewer than four passes to climb, including Col de l’Ablé (1149m), Col de l’Orme (1005m), Col Saint-Roch (990m) and Col de la Porte (1057m), starting at 10.15pm. Then La Bollène-Vésubie – Moulinet (RS17, 22.6 km) will close the race from 11.25pm, with a Special Prize for the Historic Power Stage. The judge of peace, as of every year, will be his majesty the Col de Turini (1607 m). The very first crews, as tired as happy, are expected around 1:10am in Port Hercule…
