It was another early start for the crews who now faced the typical Monte like conditions that we were expecting. The first test of the day was an 18km stage SS9 La Bréole – Selonnet 1, where parts of the stage would feel familiar from previous years. From the start, it climbed up to its highest point at about 5km in with a decent amount of snow and ice throughout; but it was at the end of the stage which was particularly bad; so it was a full set of studded winter tyres all around. The road order had now been reversed for today so perhaps offered up a bit of shake-up for the road conditions.
The second day of the Monte Carlo Rally started in the darkness early Friday morning with a 19km stage: SS3 – Asperemont – Le Batie-des-Fonts. A stage which was last used in 2019, it climbs to the top of a Col where at around 12-14km into the stage a 4km surprise in the form of patches of shiny ice awaited the crews; before an interesting decent tiptoeing back down towards the finish.
It has been some 46 days from when we saw Sebastian Ogier take he’s 7th World Rally Drivers title at The Rally Monza in December last year; which brought a close to a torrid 2020 World Rally season. Since then, in the passing weeks, The FIA World Rally Championships has already faced similar challenges before a competitive wheel had even been turned.
But finally, the hills (or should we say the Alpes?) are alive to the sound of horsepower once again as the Rallye Monte Carlo got underway from its host town of GAP, France.
