2016 Rallye Monte-Carlo: Ogier again or somebody else?
Rallye Monte-Carlo is the traditional season opener of the World Rally Championship. On the mountain roads of the southeast France and around Monaco; from January 21 to 24, more than 80 crews will fight against the clock and unpredictable road conditions. Automobile Club de Monaco has unveiled the list of 89 crews which entered the event, among them 15 crews with WRC machines.
Unpredictable road and weather conditions are guaranteed for all the contestants
Ogier again with number 1 on his VW Polo
The #1 car on the starting podium, in front of the famous Casino, will be Sebastien Ogier‘s Volkswagen Polo R WRC. The triple world champion will be joined by Jari-Matti Latvala in #2 Polo and Andreas Mikkelsen in #9 Polo.
Hyundai has the cars with number 3 and 4 during the 2016 season, with Thiery Neuville and Dani Sordo nominated for manufacturers’ points, while Hayden Paddon will be driving the #20 i20 WRC for Hyundai’s second team.
Kris Meeke was the fastest driver on the shakedown stage of 2016 Rallye Monte-Carlo
Kris Meeke won the shakedown stage
There will be a completely new line-up of drivers in the M-Sport Ford Fiestas – Mads Ostberg in the #5 car and Eric Camilli in the #6 car. Abu Dhabi Total WRT drivers Kris Meeke and Stephane Lefebvre will drive DS3 WRC cars with numbers 7 and 8. Meeke already showed his hunger for success and won the shakedown stage on Wednesday.
Four more Fiesta RS WRC cars will be driven by Ott Tanak, Robert Kubica, Bryan Bouffier and Lorenzo Bertelli. The last on the list of 15 drivers with WRC machines is the Italian Felice Re with Citroen DS3 WRC.
Sebastien Ogier will fight for his fourth victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo
More than 370-km of special stages in four days
Notable entries nominated for WRC-2 championship are Teemu Suninen, Armin Kremer, Julien Maurin and Esapekka Lappi with Škoda Fabia R5 cars, Quentin Gilbert and Jourdan Serderidis in Citroen DS3 R5 cars, while Elfyn Evans and Simone Tempestini will be driving Ford Fiesta R5. Rally legend Francois Delecour will compete with Peugeot 207 S2000.
The event also includes the WRC-3 championship and the final round of Clio R3T Trophy. All contestants will face more than 370 kilometres of timed stages, divided in 16 specials from Thursday to Sunday. The action will start on Thursday eve with two night stages. From the service area in Gap, crews will go to six Friday stages (115 km) and five Saturday stages (172 km). On Sunday, they will move to Monaco and drive through three more stages before reaching the finish in the Principality.
Ice, snow, and wet roads combined with clean asphalt are dangerous to drive
Photos: Citroen Racing,Volkswagen Motorsport
