There will be four World Rally Champions, on Thursday, at the start of the 93rd Rallye Monte-Carlo, that’s two more than last year: Thierry Neuville has finally been crowned at the end of 2024, at the end of a season that was mastered from start to finish (2 wins, 6 podiums), and Kalle Rovanperä , who only contested 7 rallies last year (2 wins), is back full-time. If we add that Sébastien Ogier, eight-time World Champion and nine-time winner in the Principality, remains a luxury freelancer, and that Ott Tänak, crowned in 2019, has no desire to retire, that makes for four World Champions, with 12 titles between them.

Two of these World Champions, Belgium’s Neuville and Estonia’s Tänak, will be driving a Hyundai i20N, while the other two, France’s Ogier and Finland’s Rovanperä, will be at the wheel of a Toyota Yaris. But the Japanese Gazoo Racing will have the advantage of numbers, with Welshman Elfyn Evans and Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta also in their ranks, as they were last year, and a newcomer, Sami Pajari (23), crowned champion last year in the WRC2 category. There will be a total of five Toyotas competing in the queen category, as well as three Hyundai cars, since Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux has joined the Korean team following an excellent season (5 podiums) with Ford M-Sport. To complete the line-up, two Ford Pumas have been entered by Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport team. They will be driven by Luxemburg’s Grégoire Munster and Irishman Josh McErlean, a 25-year-old graduate of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy.

As has been the case since the rally’s return to Hautes-Alpes last year, the service park for this 93rd Rallye Monte-Carlo will once again be based in Gap, in the main city of Seb Ogier’s native département. On roads he knows like the pockets of his overalls, the Frenchman from Toyota will be aiming for a tenth Monte Carlo victory, which would be a new all-time record. Provided he negotiates the many pitfalls of the 18 special stages on the menu, totalling 343km of timed sections, from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. Especially if the weather takes part, as snow is still possible in these mountains at the end of January.