The 2021 Monte Carlo Rally (also known as the 89^e Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) was a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

that was held over four days between 21 and 24 January 2021. It marked the eighty-ninth running of the

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast ...

, and was the first round of the 2021 World Rally Championship,

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

and

World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars th ...

. The 2021 event was based in the town of Gap in the

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; oc, Auts Aups; en, Upper Alps) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population of 141,220 ...

department of France. The rally consisted of fourteen special stages, covering a total competitive distance of .

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–2 ...

and

Nicolas Gilsoul Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville.

were the defending rally winners. Their team, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the reigning manufacturers' winners.

Mads Østberg Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norwegian rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen. Career Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in which he finishe ...

and

Torstein Eriksen Torstein Eriksen (born 29 April 1990) is a rallying co-driver from Norway. He is currently teamed with Andreas Mikkelsen and is competing for Toksport WRT in the World Rally Championship-2. Rally career Torstein Eriksen began his Rallying, rall ...

were the defending winners in the WRC-2 category, while

Eric Camilli Eric Camilli (born 6 September 1987) is a French rally driver. He has competed in the World Rally Championship since 2014. After starting out in the lower levels, he made his debut in the top level in 2016 while driving for M-Sport in a Ford Fi ...

and

François-Xavier Buresi François-Xavier is a French masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * François-Xavier Archambault (1841–1893), a lawyer and political figure in Quebec * François-Xavier Audouin (1765–1837), a French clergyman and politi ...

were the defending rally winners in the WRC-3 category. Østberg and Eriksen did not defend their WRC-2 title as they did not enter the rally. Camilli and Buresi did not defend their WRC-3 win as they entered in the WRC-2 category.

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champion ...

and

Julien Ingrassia Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a retired French rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 and 2018 with M-Sport World Rally Team, ...

won the rally, their eighth win in Monte Carlo. The result saw them set a new record for wins in Monte Carlo.

Andreas Mikkelsen Andreas Mikkelsen (born 22 June 1989) is a Norwegian rally driver. He is currently competing in the World Rally Championship-2 for Toksport World Rally Team. He previously drove for the factory teams of Volkswagen, Citroën and Hyundai in the Wo ...

and

Ola Fløene Ola Fløene (born February 1, 1969) is a Norwegian rally co-driver in the World Rally Championship. He is currently contesting WRC2 alongside long-time colleague Andreas Mikkelsen with Toksport WRT. In the past Ola has co-driven with a number o ...

won the World Rally Championship-2 category, while

Yohan Rossel Yohan Rossel (born 13 February 1995) is a French rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held a ...

and Benoît Fulcrand were the winners in the World Rally Championship-3.

Background

Entry list

The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3, and

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Ten crews were entered under

Rally1 Within the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally1 is a formula of rally car specifications for use at the highest level of international rallying in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as determined by the FIA. Despite the use of the w ...

regulations, as were eighteen

Rally2 In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally2 is a formula of rally car specification determined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA for use in its international competitions: the World Rally Championship (WRC) and reg ...

crews; of these, seven were nominated to score points in the World Rally Championship-2 and eleven in the World Rally Championship-3.

Route

The route for the 2021 rally covers in competitive

stages Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * S ...

and is the shortest in the event's history. The rally was originally planned to be run over sixteen stages, but was reduced to fifteen amid concerns over organisers' ability to run the event during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and ultimately to fourteen so as to respect the curfew established throughout France from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Itinerary

All dates and times are

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

(

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time ** B ...

Report

World Rally Cars

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-2

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-3

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Notes

References

External links

*
2021 Monte Carlo Rally
at eWRC-results.com * Th
official website
of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monte Carlo Rally, 2021 2021 in French motorsport 2021 in Monegasque motorsport 2021 World Rally Championship season January 2021 sports events in France

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Sports events curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic