Monte Carlo Rally 2025 data: Entry list + itinerary

This is all you need to know ahead of the iconic opening to the 2025 WRC season

Katsuta01MC24mj053

You don’t need us to remind you what week it is, do you?

The World Rally Championship is back, and begins (as ever) with arguably the famous event of them all: Monte Carlo.

Offering the first opportunity to see where the pecking order lies in 2025, the event’s going to be exciting no matter what unfurls later this week. But who’s competing in all classes, and what stages are they tackling?

This is your Monte Carlo Rally 2025 data file:

Entry list

Total: 70 crews
10 Rally1
32 Rally2 (22 WRC2)
12 Rally3 (8 WRC3)

Rally1

WhatsApp Image 2025-01-19 at 20.38.21_740f82d3

World champion Thierry Neuville tops the entry with #1 on the window for the first time

Ten Rally1 cars will cross the start ramp at Casino Square on Thursday, with half of them belonging to the reigning manufacturers’ champion.

Toyota fields five GR Yaris Rally1s on the Monte, with Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä and part-timer Sébastien Ogier all scoring manufacturers’ points. Takamoto Katsuta is locked in for another full season but won’t score for his team on round one, while WRC2 champion Sami Pajari steps up for a full Rally1 campaign, registered for the all-new Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville is the star of the show however, flexing the #1 on the side of his car for the first time in recognition of his world title in 2024. He’ll be the first onto the stages on Thursday night and Friday, flanked by his two team-mates Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux who makes his WRC debut for Hyundai.

M-Sport Ford is running two Pumas in the principality: one for incumbent Grégoire Munster and one for newbie Josh McErlean.

WRC2

The big favorite for WRC2 victory this week is Yohan Rossel (Citroën). A title contender last year, Rossel has scored category wins on the Monte in each of the past two seasons – albeith only after Nikolay Gryazin beat him on the road in 2023 before a penalty later dumped him behind.

Gryazin (Škoda) was originally shown as entered into WRC2 erroneously on the entry list. Though he hasn’t nominated himself for points, he’s still a contender to be the outright fastest Rally2 car given his past form here.

The rest of the field features plenty of wildcards who could spring a surprise.

Roberto Daprà, Maxime Potty and Matthieu Margaillan are among those driving a Fabia RS Rally2, but plenty are C3-mounted including Yohan Rossel’s younger brother Léo, Jan Černý and the Iron Lynx/Dames entrants of Pablo Sarrazin and Sarah Rumeau.

Four Hyundai i20 N Rally2s feature on the entry list, headlined by Eric Camilli and Grégoire Munster’s brother Charles, while Eamonn Boland is the sole Ford Fiesta Rally2 pilot.

Three Toyota GR Yaris Rally2s will compete, but not for WRC2 points. Oliver Solberg is the top seed, while TGR Rally Challenge drivers Hikaru Kogure and Yuki Yamamoto are also in town for experience – as is the Škoda-powered Gus Greensmith.

WRC3

WRC3 stages an intriguing four vs four battle this week, with four Ford Fiestas and four Renault Clios entered.

Reigning champion Diego Domínguez is the headline entrant in his Ford, but will be chased hard by the likes of Mattéo Chatillon – an official Renault driver – and Matteo Fontana (Fiesta).

A further four cars (three Renaults and one Ford), including the other works Clio of Leny Cols, will compete but not for WRC3 honors.

Itinerary

Boasting the longest route since 2018, this year’s Monte Carlo Rally comprises 18 stages totalling 213.5 miles.

As usual, shakedown is held on Wednesday afternoon before the action begins for real on Thursday evening, after the glitz and the glamor of the Casino Square start in the heart of Monaco.

But in a twist to previous years, the opening leg features three stages instead of two, beginning with the run from Digne-les-Bains to Chaudon-Norante as the rally works its way north to its overnight halt in Gap via the Faucon-du-Caire / Bréziers and Avançon / Notre-Dame-du-Laus stages.

Friday offers a familiar feel with three stages repeated in the afternoon, and the Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes / La Bâtie-Neuve and La Bréole / Selonnet stages remaining from last year.  Saint-Maurice / Aubessagne is a new opener to the loop on stages to the north of the host town.

Saturday takes the rally west of Gap for the longest day at 81.6 miles. La Motte-Chalancon / Saint-Nazaire is a tough opener to the leg as the meatiest stage of the rally (16.7 miles) before the succeeding Aucelon / Recoubeau-Jansac and La Bâtie-des-Fonts / Aspremont tests.

Every mile will count on Sunday – the shortest day at 31.6 miles – with additional points available for the fastest five drivers across the three stages, as well as on the end-of-event powerstage.

Two of Thursday evening’s stages, Avançon / Notre-Dame-du-Laus and Digne-les-Bains / Chaudon-Norante, are re-used as the rally works its way back down to Monaco, before the La Bollène-Vésubie / Peïra-Cava powerstage closes the curtain on the opening round of the 2025 season.

Comments