Leading entries for next year’s Monte Carlo Rally have been revealed, with Andreas Mikkelsen down to drive a Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo for the 2021 World Rally Championship season opener.
The Norwegian is the top seed in the WRC2 category, with Oliver Solberg’s name down alongside a factory Hyundai i20 R5 for the first time in his short career. Nikolay Gryazin has switched from a Hyundai to a Volkswagen Polo R5 for the event, while last year’s R5 pacesetter and WRC3 winner in the principality Eric Camilli returns with one of two Citroën C3s. The other is driven by American Sean Johnston.
At the front of the field, there are no surprises from Toyota and Hyundai (with Dani Sordo joining Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville – Craig Breen starts his program on round two), while M-Sport Ford has been given dispensation to reserve three entries in a sell-out 90-car field.
Two of those cars will be Ford Fiesta WRCs, with the other one a Fiesta Rally2. Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux, Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith are the drivers most likely to feature, but it remains to be seen who drives what.
Pierre-Louis Loubet will be starting what is looking likely to be a full season in a 2C Competition-run Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC.
Kevin Abbring (Volkswagen Polo R5), Nicolas Ciamin (Citroën C3 R5) and Tom Williams (Ford Fiesta Rally2) are the top entries in WRC3.
Next year’s Monte Carlo Rally runs from January 18-24. The revised itinerary for the event will be looked at in detail on DirtFish on Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled.
