The World Rally Championship kicks into life for the first time in 2024 with its biggest event – the Monte Carlo Rally.
As the first of the season’s 13 rounds, the Monte will give us an initial indication of which teams have stolen an advantage over the off-season, and which drivers have the pace to succeed in the season ahead – especially with milder weather forecast, and thus the notorious conditions lottery potentially absent.
With the competition in Rally1 closer than ever, and a bumper entry list of Rally2 cars, this year’s season opener is poised to be a cracker.
Here’s all the information you need to follow this year’s Monte Carlo Rally:
Rally Monte Carlo entry list
- Total 69 crews
- 8 Rally1 crews
- 28 Rally2 crews (21 WRC2)
- 7 Rally3 crews (3 WRC3)
Last year's Monte Rally1 contingent lined up outside the famous Casino de Monte Carlo. There's one fewer Toyota and Ford respectively this year.
Rally1
Only eight Rally1 cars will take part in this year’s Monte Carlo Rally, down from the 10 that participated in last year’s season opener.
The key omission from the entry list is defending and two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who will drive only a partial WRC campaign for Toyota in 2024, and has elected to skip the Monte this time round; his WRC season begins in Sweden next month.
That leaves three Toyotas in the field, with another part-timer – nine-time Monte winner Sébastien Ogier – leading the Japanese brand’s charge alongside full-season drivers Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.
Ogier already has nine Monte wins – all eyes are on whether he can make it 10 this year
Hyundai enters a trio of i20 Ns, with Thierry Neuville partnered by a pair of drivers returning to the South Korean brand: 2019 WRC champion Ott Tänak, and last year’s WRC2 champion Andreas Mikkelsen, who will rotate his seat with Dani Sordo and Esapekka Lappi during the season ahead.
M-Sport completes the Rally1 line-up with a pair of Ford Pumas for top flight returnee Adrien Fourmaux and WRC rookie Grégoire Munster.
WRC2
In contrast to the Rally1 field, a sizeable 21 Rally2 cars are registered to score WRC2 points this weekend.
Toyota's GR Yaris Rally2 makes its long-awaited debut in the WRC in Monte
Toyota makes its long-awaited debut in the category, with Stéphane Lefebvre, Bryan Bouffier and Jan Solans all set to pilot privately-entered GR Yaris Rally2s.
Citroën’s charge is headed by defending event winner Yohan Rossel and last year’s runner-up Nikolay Gryazin, who will both drive a C3 for DG Sport Competition.
Spain’s Pepe López and Britain’s Chris Ingram both enter the Monte in Škoda Fabia RSs, while Nicolas Ciamin – WRC2 winner on last year’s Central European Rally – returns to the class piloting a Hyundai i20 N.
Sami Pajari (Printsport Toyota) and Oliver Solberg (Toksport Škoda) also feature on the Rally2 entry list but have not nominated this event as one of the seven points scoring rounds in their 2024 WRC2 campaigns.
Yohan Rossel has scored class wins on the Monte three times (2019, 2021, 2023) and is one of the favorites for WRC2 victory
In total, six brands will be represented in Rally2 competition on the Monte: Toyota, Škoda, Citroën, Hyundai, Ford and Volkswagen.
WRC3
Three Rally3 competitors are registered for WRC3 points. Jan Černý and Carlo Covi will pilot Ford Fiestas and Ghjuvanni Rossi will tackle the rally in a Renault Clio.
Rally Monte Carlo Itinerary
The route for this year’s Monte consists of 201 miles of stages across four days of competition. With the rally’s base and service park moving from Monte Carlo itself to the French town of Gap, some 90 miles northwest of Monaco as the crow flies, this year’s route is almost entirely new compared to 2023.
After Thursday afternoon’s ceremonial start in Casino Square, the crews head for the mountains and a duo of night stages, with the 13-mile Thoard / Saint-Geniez test (a shortened version of the famous Sisteron stage) getting WRC 2024 underway.
On Friday, the crews will head East from Gap for a trio of stages familiar to drivers who competed on the Gap-based 2020 and 2021 events. A midday service will be followed by a second loop of the same tests, for a total of 66 miles of competitive action.
The move north to Gap has led to an almost entirely revised itinerary for 2024
Saturday is the rally’s longest day, with 75 miles of stages awaiting the crews. Lying to the west of Gap, those tests include roads not seen on the Monte since the 1990s, providing a fresh challenge for the drivers and teams alike. Again, the day’s six stages will be split by a lunchtime service in Gap.
There’s an early start for the crews on Sunday, with the opening La Bréole / Selonnet stage (a repeat of Friday’s SS5 and SS8) taking place at 7am, before the journey back to Monte Carlo begins. The final two stages are Monte classics, taking drivers over the Col de Corobin and Col de Turini, with the latter forming the event’s powerstage and closing Sunday’s 32 miles of action.
