Record Monte Carlo Rally winner Sébastien Ogier has called for fireworks and flares to be banned from special stages.
Spectacular firework displays have become a regular feature of the opening night of the World Rally Championship season, with passionate fans creating a show in the night that generates mesmerizing images and video.
But that impairs visibility for drivers and creates a potential safety issue, leaving Ogier less than impressed after encountering the fireworks and flares on Thursday night’s third stage.
“I am not a fan at all [of fireworks],” Ogier said. “Spectators think they are cool but, guys, please stop that. We are in the fog, we can’t see anything!
“I hope that sooner or later this will be banned because it’s not a great idea at all. So please stop with the fireworks and smoke.”
Fellow world champion Ott Tänak agreed the fireworks and flares were “disturbing” but appreciated it was fun for spectators.
“It seemed quite many people sometimes also disturbing quite a lot with all the fires and smoke, so it’s very difficult to see the road and hard to understand where you are,” he said.
Grégoire Munster spoke out in favor of the atmosphere created by pyrotechnics
“But yeah, they seem to enjoy themselves.”
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta added: “Yeah, for sure there’s a lot of people who are maybe too excited! That was nice to see but in some places maybe too much, we couldn’t see anything because of the smoke and fireworks. Looks amazing and beautiful but sometimes means you can’t see anything.
“So very tricky but this is Monte, so that’s quite crazy and nice.”
Grégoire Munster, however, disagreed with Ogier; the M-Sport driver simply appreciative to be able to compete in such an atmosphere.
“A big thank you first to be able to drive these cars but also to do it in that atmosphere, you can’t dream of better!” he said.
SS3 was canceled for spectator safety reasons after the first three Rally2 cars.
