© Scuderia del Grifone

An historic driver, Maurizio Verini, won RS11 on Monday afternoon, between Crupie and Saillans (23.75 km). An Italian and European rally champion in the mid-1970s, Verini drove a Fiat 124 and even wrote a book about that car. He took the start of this 25th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique in another coupé produced by the Italian brand, a pretty X1/9 dating back to 1976. And in this RS11 the Italian crew completed an almost perfect copy, thanks to his co-driver Enrico Merenda: just 20 penalty points, ten less than Raymond Durand and Sébastien Chol, in 2^nd place aboard their Opel Kadett GTE from 1977. As for 3rd place, it was shared by a 1979 VW Golf GTi and a superb 1982 Audi Quattro, entered by Norwegians.