The World Rally Championship’s off-season is a short one. Just 50 days stand between the final day of Rally Saudi Arabia and the first recce day in Monte Carlo.
And don’t forget, there’s Monte testing, Monte prep and awards ceremonies (for some) sandwiched in between.
So much so that completing the Dakar Rally in between is surely impossible. I even texted co-driver Louis Louka as much when I saw the news that his WRC driver would be competing.
I’m astonished to say I was wrong.
Grégoire Munster’s off-season is practically non-existent; so much so that he views January’s Monte Carlo – likely his Rally1 swansong – as an extension of his 2025 season. He estimates that he has just eight days at home between the conclusion of one WRC season and the start of the next.
Straight off the plane from Saudi Arabia to Kenya for the East Safari Classic Rally – where Munster co-drove Jourdan Serderidis to third place – he was then off to Spain for a crash course in how to co-drive the Dakar Rally.
And in just a matter of days, he’s back off to Saudi Arabia for the two-week Dakar adventure. When that ends? He’s on the plane to France and that same day, starting his recce for Monte Carlo.
It’s an intense schedule, but Munster loves challenges and is ready to give it a go.
“When Jourdan proposed this idea during the rest day in Kenya, I told him it’s a very bad idea,” Munster smiles, “but I’m down for it because how many times do you get the occasion to do the Dakar?
“And then you never know what my future is going to be; if one day I want to try and do some off-road, I think having that experience is super important. Having done Dakar, knowing a bit how to navigate, seeing different type of terrains and so on [will be beneficial], so that’s why I wanted to do it.
“But I told him it’s a bad idea because I have two weeks to learn how to navigate, and I have no clue how to do so. But he said ‘don’t worry. I know Nani Roma quite well and his co-driver, Álex Haro, can help you out with that’. So basically, we changed my flight from Kenya, the return, and I went straight to Spain for two days to learn how to navigate with Álex Haro.”
Munster learned the art of Dakar navigating with Haro (pictured)
Munster is a driver, but he knows how to co-drive; he has 12 starts in the ‘other’ seat of the car. However navigating on rally-raid events is very different to rally, hence the need to visit Haro.
“I think it’s going to be a huge challenge,” Munster admits. “I mean co-driving already is a challenge, because I don’t like to be in the right seat, having to experience things while I’m not in control. It’s not really in my nature.
“But then, I would say calling the pacenotes and so on can still be quite natural for me, because I know how I want them to be called, sitting in the left seat. So I think it comes a bit natural to give the pacenotes. It’s more like all the administration around it that’s a struggle, checking in on time, all this stuff is much more of a problem for me.
“And then, of course, when you go to Dakar, then you add a big task, which is not only to call the pacenotes or the description given in the road book, but it’s to follow different caps. Because you have different types of cap, like you have exit caps when you just exit a road book box, then you have an average cap, which are to be followed for a certain distance. And the cap varies while you follow the road or the track.
Jourdan said 'Loeb did it at his age, so normally you also should be able to do it!'Grégoire Munster
“But average, you need to follow that cap. And then you have calculated caps for in the dunes and oblique caps for a certain distance, which is like a digressive cap, like you start at 100, for example, and you go to 160 over a distance of 700 meters, for example. So this is completely new to me.
“Of course, you have all the different types of waypoints, which have an opening radius and then a validating radius and you need to know which one has what radius and I still don’t have a proper idea of all the ones because you have just so many.”
It’s confusing to listen to, so imagine what it’s like to tackle head on. Particularly with less than a month’s notice.
But as a competitor used to world championship competition, Munster doesn’t want to just make up the numbers in Serderidis’ Ford Raptor T1+.
“I think the first thing is to finish the Dakar, because I think it’s quite an achievement in itself,” he says. “But I don’t know, maybe I’m a bit too optimistic because, like I said, I’ve never done it, but I like the idea of the challenge, so I want to do well, and I just hope I won’t get lost too often.
“But yeah, I don’t know, I have a good feeling, and I really want it to work out.”
The challenge of the Dakar will undoubtedly be mentally taxing, but the complicating factor is Munster’s other focus: the Monte.
Munster is excited by the challenge of tackling Monte immediately after Dakar
As likely his last shot in a Rally1 car, this is a major opportunity for him to try and impress. Having next-to-no time to prepare is therefore less than ideal – although at least he’ll be in his more familiar position of driving.
However the last time somebody flew straight from the Dakar to the Monte Carlo Rally, they won. That was Sébastien Loeb back in 2022.
“Yeah, it’s true,” Munster laughs, “but he’s also a nine-time world champion. But yeah, I mean, that’s what Jourdan said as well. He said it’s a nice challenge, and Loeb did it at his age, so normally you also should be able to do it!
“For me, I like challenges. I’m a bit like Jourdan, I like these kind of things and I like motorsports so obviously when I get proposed to do Dakar, I say yes and to have the switch to Monte is just an additional challenge that I want to succeed, so I take it on.
“I’m going to prepare as much as I can now [at home],” Munster adds. “I’m going to prepare in the evenings on the Dakar days in the camper. And I arrive to Monte and then it’s just, let’s go. There’s no testing. I mean, shakedown is going to be my testing and let’s go.”
Logistically, it’ll be tough. Munster flies to the Monte on Sunday January 18 – the day after the Dakar ends and the day the recce starts. But having no time to overthink what’s ahead may prove to be an advantage.
“For sure I will be tired,” he says. “Maybe the long road section or recce Louis will drive them, but like you say, no overthinking. It’s just I jump in the car and let’s go.”
No matter how either event goes, Grégoire Munster isn’t going to forget his January 2026. And when he finally gets some proper rest, he really will have earned it.
