The oldest and most famous rally in the world, run under the High Patronage of their Serene Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Monaco, is tricky and unpredictable and the ever-changing weather conditions in the mountains, and compromise tyre choices, make it probably the most challenging rally on the calendar and therefore a highly-prized victory.
For the third consecutive year, Rallye Monte-Carlo is based in the host city of Gap until moving to the principality of Monaco on Saturday night, from where the crews will head out to complete the final three stages on Sunday. Reigning triple FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier heads an impressive field of entrants and the Frenchman will doubtless be looking to secure his third consecutive win on the mountain roads surrounding his home town of Gap.
While the driver line-ups at both Volkswagen Motorsport and Hyundai Motorsport remain unchanged for this season, it is all-change at the M-Sport World Rally Team with Mads Østberg returning to the team and Frenchman Eric Camilli making his first competitive appearance in a world rally car. Two DS3 WRCs have been entered for Kris Meeke and Stéphane Lefebvre and, in addition to the crews from the WRC Teams of Hyundai and Volkswagen, the Championship welcomes new-comer DMACK World Rally Team with its nominated driver Ott Tänak.
While not registered for the series, Robert Kubica returns in 2016 along with Italian Lorenzo Bertelli, the duo rounding off the list of 14 world rally car drivers. No fewer than 15 crews have entered in the FIA WRC 2 Championship category and nine in the FIA WRC 3 Championship for two-wheel drive cars.
Before any of the action gets underway, however, the WRC Season Opening, where a host of international celebrities will join the WRC contenders, will kick off the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship in spectacular style in Monaco on Thursday afternoon.
THE 2016 ROUTE
After the ceremonial start in Monte-Carlo on Thursday, crews head straight into the mountains for two night stages as they make their way back to Gap for the overnight halt. Friday’s route is familiar with stages to the north of the host city, but Saturday looks set to provide a massive challenge with 173.96 kilometres of competition and just one midday service halt. In addition, there are two runs through the daunting Lardier et Valenca–Faye stage which, at 51.55 kilometres, will test everyone to their limits. The famous Sisteron-Thoard stage rounds off the day’s run back to Monte-Carlo. Sunday takes in just three stages, without service, and takes crews over the famous Col de Turini before the competitive element of the event finishes with the 12.07 kilometre Col de L’Orme-St Laurent Power Stage.