The Monza Rally Show has been confirmed as the final round of the 2020 World Rally Championship, following this week’s Rally Italy in Sardinia and Ypres Rally Belgium.
The event will take place on December 4-6 and will comprise of around 135 miles of stages in and around Autodromo Nazionale de Monza, which hosts Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix each year.
Saturday’s second leg will take the rally out of the confines of the circuit and onto closed public roads in the Lombardy region – similar to the roads seen on Rally Sanremo.
The Monza Rally Show was first held in 1978 and has attracted several WRC stars in the past including Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo Andreas Mikkelsen, Teemu Suninen and Sébastien Loeb. During this time, it has never been granted world championship status, as it often acts as end-of-season show event.
WRC Promoter managing director Jona Siebel said the rally would provide an exciting challenge for competitors.
“As the final round of the championship, there’s a strong chance both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ WRC titles could go right down to the wire on Monza’s roads,” he said.
“The WRC prides itself on rewarding rallying’s best all-round driver across multiple terrains and varied conditions. This type of rally is rare in our championship but will provide a thrilling finale to an unpredictable year,” he added.
Photo: X Race Sport
FIA rally director Yves Matton was pleased to confirm an eighth round for the series – a number that had previously highlighted to DirtFish as necessary to keep the season at a sufficient length to justify world championship titles being awarded.
“In the current situation, we’re developing new approaches and ACI Rally Monza Italia is a great illustration of this. It’s the marriage of an iconic circuit event and more traditional rally stages in the nearby countryside,” Matton said.
“This new concept could eventually help bring the WRC to countries or regions where new formats are required.
“It has required a great deal of flexibility from ACI and its president Angelo Sticchi Damiani to bring this new event to the calendar at such a late stage and I would like to thank them for their great commitment and professionalism.”
Monza’s confirmation means it is now impossible for Elfyn Evans to become World Rally Champion this weekend. He started Rally Italy 18 points ahead of team-mate Sébastien Ogier, with 30 left to play for after Sardinia had Ypres Rally Belgium been the season finale.
His maximum advantage over Ogier could be 48 points after this weekend’s event.
FEARS GROW OVER YPRES STATUS
Coronavirus cases in Belgium has put question marks against Ypres Rally
