Number 3 is Kris Meeke, the first driver to be nominated by Citroën-Total Abu Dhabi WRT for 2015, while his illustrious team-mate Sébastien Loeb will start with number four on his car. Mads Ostberg, who hasn’t been nominated to score Manufacturer points, is number 12.
As in 2014, the factory Ford Fiesta RS WRCs (Elfyn Evans, Ott Tanak) and Hyundai i20 WRCs (Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo) will carry the numbers five, six, seven and eight.
The Czech Republic’s Martin Prokop (N°21) returns in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC and Italian Lorenzo Bertelli (now co-driven by Giovanni Bernacchini) is poised to make his debut in the WRC class in a similar car.
Henning Solberg and Bryan Bouffier are also expected in M-Sport WRC-entered Fiesta RS WRCs, while Robert Kubica has entered a Ford under his own name.
Ukraine’s Yurii Protasov has switched from a Fiesta to a DS3 WRC for 2015, and Sébastien Chardonnet is expected to compete in a PH’Sport-tended DS3 WRC. The French team will also run a DS3 R5 in the WRC-2 class for the Junior champion Stéphane Lefebvre.
Eleven drivers have entered the WRC-2 class, with Lefebvre joined by Craig Breen (Peugeot 208 T16), Julien Maurin (Ford Fiesta R5), Eric Camilli (Ford Fiesta R5) and Martin Koci (DS3 R5), but Olivier Burri (Fiesta R5) is not contesting the entire championship.
There are also 11 Citroën DS3 R3s in the Junior/WRC class, led by Quentin Gilbert and Christian Riedmann. The FFSA’s Equipe de France has entered a car for the promising Yohan Rossel, while France’s Charlotte Dalmasso will be the only lady driver on the 2015 Monte.
Added attractions for spectators will be the Porsche R-GTs of François Delecour, Marc Duez and Romain Dumas, plus the Renault Clio R3Ts of Switzerland’s Laurent (entered by Renault Sport Technologies) and the repentant Stéphane Consani.