Technical and administrative scrutineering ended at midday this Wednesday, as planned, for 60 crews entered in the 7^th edition of E-Rally Monte-Carlo… which is also the 23^rd Rallye Monte-Carlo Zenn (Zero Emission, No Noise).

Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM) paved the way in 1995 by organising the first regularity rally for electric, battery or hydrogen-powered cars. And the line-up for this 2023 edition is particularly strong, with all six previous winners of the event, a former European rally champion and even a former Formula 1 driver!

For this 8^th round of the Bridgestone FIA ecoRally Cup 2023, the ACM had to turn down entries. And this year’s line-up matches the reputation of all the road and circuit events that it organizes: 60 crews, 15 nationalities and 36 different models entered by 19 manufacturers. A record for the event and a guarantee of total suspense right up to the end of the last night.

A very strong field!

Spain’s Eneko Conde and Lukas Sergnese (Kia E-Niro), last year’s winners of the FIA ecoRally Cup, will be up against the Czech team hoping to succeed them on the world stage, Michal Zdarsky and Jakub Nabelek (Hyundai Kona). There will also be two genuine stars, Belgian Bruno Thiry, European rally champion in 2003, and Italian Stefano Modena, a former F1 driver (70 Grand Prix contested, 3rd in Monaco in 1989). Also entered are all six former winners of this E-Rallye Monte-Carlo, the most prestigious round on the world calendar as it uses some of the legendary stages of its WRC version: Poland’s Artur Prusak (2016), now Guido Guerrini’s codriver in a Kia E-Niro, Didier Malga (2017), Alexandre Stricher (2018), Frédéric Ozon (2019), all three of them with a Tesla Model 3, Frédéric Lansiaux (2021) in a VW ID3 and Jacques Pastor (2022) in a Kia E-Niro. That’s a lot of candidates for victory at the end of the 1,000 km scheduled from 2pm on Wednesday to midnight on Saturday.

Secret route…

New for 2023, each daily route will be kept secret until one hour before the start, when the roadbook for the day is given to the competitors. Then, the menu of the day will be posted on ACM’s website and social networks when the first crew starts the day. As always, there will be several special stages to complete at night. And two main objectives remain the same: to respect the average speed set by the organisers, in each timed section, while managing the energy required to get back to Parc Fermé at the end of the day’s loop. Crews will then have a whole night to recharge their batteries on the numerous charging points of the Monaco On network, in the streets and parking lots of the Principality.

The race is on!