Next month’s Monte Carlo Rally is set to be Grégoire Munster’s final event in a Rally1 car.
Last week M-Sport announced Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong as its two full-season drivers for the 2026 World Rally Championship, in an increased alliance with the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy.
Armstrong – who drove for M-Sport in this year’s European Rally Championship – effectively replaces Munster in the lineup alongside McErlean who gets a second season in Rally1.
But Munster will still take on the season-opener in a Puma Rally1, driving the car owned by privateer Jourdan Serderidis.
Munster told DirtFish he doesn’t expect to be in Rally1 again in 2026 with the WRC’s technical regulations set to pivot towards machinery in-line with the current Rally2 cars, but the opportunity to prove what he can do at a rally he feels comfortable at was too tempting to pass up.
“Basically we just think that in Monte I’m quite on the pace, because it’s the rally in WRC where I have the most experience,” Munster said.
“This year we also achieved our first fastest time. We did a couple of second fastest as well and we were fourth before having an issue with the engine coming back to service. It’s an event I think we can do well and we just want to seize that opportunity to show it, a bit like Mãrtiņš [Sesks] did at the end of the year [in Saudi Arabia].”
Munster won’t have the luxury of much preparation time however. Immediately after the WRC season concluded in November, he was on a plane to Kenya for the East Safari Classic Rally co-driving for Serderidis (where they finished third).
And at the beginning of January, Munster will tackle the Dakar in a Ford Raptor T1+ as co-driver for Serderidis before flying to France for the Monte Carlo recce and then rally.
He explained: “I look at it like with Saudi, Kenya, Dakar and Monte, it’s just like my 2025 season hasn’t ended yet, so it’s like the last opportunity of the 2025 season to show something.
“And like you say, in the ideal world, when you do a one-shot, a bit like Mãrtiņš did, he had a lot of time to prepare because we were all in Japan and so on. But yeah, for me, it’s not going to be the case.
Munster's most competitive event in 2025 was Monte, which is why he'll return in 2026 with Rally1
“But on the other hand, I don’t have anything to doubt about because I won’t have time to prepare a lot. So I’m going to prepare as much as I can now. I’m going to prepare in the evening on the Dakar days in the camper, and I arrive to Monte and then it’s just ‘let’s go’.
“There’s no testing. I mean, shakedown is going to be my testing and let’s go.”
Asked about his plans for the rest of 2026, Munster said “it’s not 100% clear yet” but “I will probably drive a Rally2 in different kind of events”.
While tight-lipped on precisely what, and where, he could be driving, Munster is keen to do as many different things as he can as he feels that puts him in the strongest position for 2027.
He said: “I’ll drive internationally, but also in some national championships. And if I get the opportunity to try off-road, I want to do it. Basically, 2026 is just a transition year for ’27. And when you see the choice of drivers at Hyundai, it’s purely for manufacturers [championship] because they assure value. But they’re not specifically planning something further than ’26.
“So I think what’s important in ’26 is to get as much experience as you can, maybe with multiple cars, multiple events, multiple championships, stay in the game, show up with results and then get a chance in ’27.”
