The 2013 Monte Carlo Rally (formally known as the 81ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 16 and 19 January, and marked the eighty-first running of the Monte Carlo Rally. After the ceremonial start in Monte Carlo, the rally was based in the French town of Valence. The rally itself was contested over eighteen special stages in the French provinces of Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, covering a total of in competitive stages.
The rally was the first round of the 2013 World Rally Championship season, and marked the fortieth anniversary of the World Rally Championship; the 1973 event was the opening round of the championship in its inaugural season. Thirteen World Rally Car crews were entered in the event, including the defending World Drivers' Champion Sébastien Loeb, prior to the start a six-time winner of the Monte Carlo Rally.
The event was run in difficult conditions, with teams reporting during preparations for the event that the stages were subject to the heaviest snowfalls since the 2000 season. The rally was won by Sébastien Loeb, the seventy-seventh of his career and his seventh victory on the Rallye Monte Carlo. The Volkswagen Polo R WRC scored a podium on its competitive debut in the hands of Sébastien Ogier, with Dani Sordo completing the podium in a Citroën DS3 WRC.
Entry list Entries for the rally closed on 14 December 2012, and were published one week later. Eighty-four entries were received, with seventy-three teams starting the event. Thirteen World Rally Cars started the event, as did eight entries in the newly formed WRC-2 championship for cars built to Group N and Super 2000 regulations, and three teams eligible to score points in the WRC-3 championship for two-wheel drive cars.
Notable entrants Entrant Driver Co-driver Car 1 WRC 2 WRC 4 WRC 5 WRC 6 WRC 7 WRC 8 WRC 10 WRC 11 WRC 12 WRC 21 WRC 22 WRC 24 WRC 31 WRC-2 32 WRC-2 33 WRC-2 34 WRC-2 36 WRC-2 37 WRC-2 38 WRC-2 39 WRC-2 51 WRC-3 52 WRC-3 53 WRC-3 Icon Class WRC WRC entries eligible toscore manufacturer points WRC Major entry ineligible toscore manufacturer points WRC-2 Registered to take part inWRC-2 championship WRC-3 Registered to take part inWRC-3 championship
Itinerary The itinerary for the 2013 rally remained relatively unchanged from previous years. The first day of the rally was made up of four special stages to the south and west of the rally base in Valence. Le Moulinon—Antraigues was the first and longest stage—at —of the rally, and was made up of narrow and twisty roads that climb the Col de la Fayolle, before the road widens for a fast descent. This was followed by Burzet—St. Martial, consisting of a series of long technical sections through a forest that opens up onto narrow roads that are exposed to the prevailing weather conditions. Both stages were contested for a second time later that afternoon. Both Le Moulinon—Antraigues and Burzet—St. Martial were modified from the 2012 route, having been extended slightly. This first leg of the rally was also the longest, covering some of competitive stages.
The second leg of the rally was made up of three stages to the north and west of Valence: Labatie d'Andaure—Lalouvesc, St. Bonnet—St. Julien Molhesabate—St. Bonnet and Lamastre—Gilhoc—Alboussière. Labatie d'Andaure—Lalouvesc was characterised by a long climb up the mountainside that became increasingly technical as it went on. St. Bonnet—St. Julien Molhesabate—St. Bonnet both started and finished in the commune of St. Bonnet, encircling a valley with fast, open roads at high altitude. Finally, Lamastre—Gilhoc—Alboussière was a fast and narrow descent that levelled out halfway through as it wound through open farmland. As with the first day of the rally, these three stages were contested twice; once in the morning and again in the afternoon. Similarly, the stages had all minor adjustments from the 2012 route.
The third day of the rally was the shortest at . This leg of the rally also featured the most changes to the route. The Cimetiere de Vassieux—Col de Gaudissart and Montauban-sur-l'Ouvèze—Eygalayes stages that have been used in recent years were not contested in 2012; instead, the cars travelled east and south of Valence for the St. Jean-en-Royans—La Cime Du Mas stage, which follows a difficult route across the contours of three mountain peaks. Although a regular feature of the rally route, the 2012 route used a version of St. Jean-en-Royans—La Cime Du Mas that had not been featured since 1997. The cars returned to Valence for repairs at midday before contesting St. Nazaire le Desert—La Motte Chalancon and Sisteron—Thoard in the afternoon, both of which returned to the event after an extended absence. St. Nazaire le Desert—La Motte Chalancon was last used in 2009 as a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge when it was run in the opposite direction to the planned route for 2012, which follows narrow, twisty roads across a mountain ridge, passing through several small villages as it reaches a mountain pass over a kilometre above sea level. Sisteron—Thoard had not featured in the route since 2002, featuring of difficult mountain climbs, undulating technical sequences and fast, open stretches at higher altitudes.
The fourth and final leg of the rally was made up of five stages. This formed the longest overall day of competition, with the stages in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, close to the Italian border. The first of these stages, Moulinet—La Bollene Vesubie (also known as the Col de Turini) was contested three times; twice in the afternoon, and once at night. The stage is famous for its endless series of hairpin bends, and steep inclines throughout the stage. The second stage, Lantosque—Lucéram, was also run twice across relatively flat terrain before climbing over a mountain ridge and descending to the commune of Lucéram. The second running of the stage formed the "Power Stage" of the rally. This concept, introduced in 2011, awards bonus World Championship points to the three fastest drivers through the stage.
In detail Itinerary of special stages (UTC+1) Stagenumber Stage name Surface Length(in km) Length(in mi) Shakedown — 15 January 8:00 P1 Plateau Lautagne 1 Tarmac 3.58 km 2.22 mi 9:00 P2 Plateau Lautagne 2 Tarmac 3.58 km 2.22 mi 10:00 P3 Plateau Lautagne 2 Tarmac 3.58 km 2.22 mi 11:00 Private Plateau Lautagne 4 Tarmac 3.58 km 2.22 mi 18:00 Ceremonial start — Champs de Mars, Valence Leg 1 — 16 January 9:03 SS1 Le Moulinon—Antraigues 1 Tarmac 37.10 km 23.05 mi 10:21 SS2 Burzet—St. Martial 1 Tarmac 30.60 km 19.01 mi 12:46 Service A — Valence 14:21 SS3 Le Moulinon—Antraigues 2 Tarmac 37.10 km 23.05 mi 15:39 SS4 Burzet—St. Martial 2 Tarmac 30.60 km 19.01 mi 17:59 Flexi Service B — Valence 18:37 Parc fermé — Valence Leg 2 — 17 January 7:55 Service C — Valence 9:33 SS5 Labatie d'Andaure—Lalouvesc 1 Tarmac 19.08 km 11.86 mi 10:14 SS6 St. Bonnet—St. Julien Molhesabate—St. Bonnet 1 Tarmac 25.45 km 15.81 mi 11:37 SS7 Lamastre—Gilhoc—Alboussiere 1 Tarmac 21.72 km 13.50 mi 12:57 Service D — Valence 14:50 SS8 Labatie d'Andaure—Lalouvesc 2 Tarmac 19.08 km 11.86 mi 15:31 SS9 St. Bonnet—St. Julien Molhesabate—St. Bonnet 2 Tarmac 25.45 km 15.81 mi 16:54 SS10 Lamastre—Gilhoc—Alboussiere 2 Tarmac 21.72 km 13.50 mi 18:19 Flexi Service E — Valence 19:00 Parc fermé — Valence Source: Itinerary of special stages (UTC+1) Stagenumber Stage name Surface Length(in km) Length(in mi) Leg 3 — 18 January 7:50 Service F — Valence 9:08 SS11 St. Jean-en-Royans—La Cime du Mas Tarmac 33.19 km 20.62 mi 11:23 Service G — Valence 13:31 SS12 St. Nazaire le Desert—La Motte Chalancon Tarmac 22.11 km 13.74 mi 15:29 SS13 Sisteron—Thoard Tarmac 36.70 km 22.80 mi 19:32 Parc fermé — Monaco Leg 4 — 19 January 13:15 Service H — Monaco 15:11 SS14 Moulinet—La Bollene Vesubie 1 Tarmac 23.45 km 14.57 mi 15:54 SS15 Lantosque—Lucéram 1 Tarmac 18.95 km 11.77 mi 17:12 SS16 Moulinet—La Bollene Vesubie 2 Tarmac 23.45 km 14.57 mi 19:17 Service I — Monaco 20:58 SS17 Moulinet—La Bollene Vesubie 3 Tarmac 23.45 km 14.57 mi 21:41 SS18 Lantosque—Lucéram 2 Tarmac 18.95 km 11.77 mi 22:56 Service J — Monaco 23:09 Parc fermé — Monaco Post-event — 20 January 11:00 Finish ceremony — Prince's Palace of Monaco Source: Key Icon Meaning Special stage Service park Parc fermé Bold Power stage
Report
Leg 1 The opening stages of the rally presented a challenge to the drivers. Where the first pass through Le Moulinon—Antraigues was mostly dry, the Burzet—St. Martial stage was covered in snow, making tyre choice critical. With the cars running in the order that they finished the 2012 season, Sébastien Loeb was the first driver through the stages, and on his arrival at the end of Le Moulinon—Antraigues it was observed that the dry conditions had torn the studs free of his front tyres. This would become a problem that all of the leading teams would be faced with. Nevertheless, Loeb set the early pace, finishing the stage seventeen seconds ahead of team-mate Mikko Hirvonen and looked unchallenged until Sébastien Ogier set a stage time that was three and a half second faster, giving the Volkswagen Polo R WRC a stage win on the very first stage it contested. Meanwhile, Jari-Matti Latvala in the second Polo R, arrived late at a time control checkpoint before the second stage, and received a thirty-second penalty. Ogier and Loeb maintained their momentum through the snowy Burzet—St. Martial stage, but Loeb took the rally lead from Ogier by seven seconds. Dani Sordo, in the third works-supported Citroën DS3 WRC, retained third place despite a fast time from Juho Hänninen in the Qatar World Rally Team Fiesta RS that saw him pick up two places overall.
Following the service park in Valence, the cars returned to Le Moulinon—Antraigues, where Loeb continued to build on his lead, finishing the stage twelve seconds faster than Latvala, who after some initial teething problems had gained confidence in the Polo R. Sordo was once again third, whilst Hirvonen took fourth back from Hänninen. Ogier finished the stage fifth to be twenty-six and a half seconds behind Loeb. The second pass over Burzet—St. Martial was dry, as the cars had swept the stage of snow during the first run over the stage. The difference was so significant that Loeb set a stage time four minutes faster than the time he recorded in the morning. Hirvonen finished second, some thirty-four seconds slower, to capture third overall from Sordo. Mads Østberg finished the stage third ahead of Ogier, while Latvala finished fifth, recovering to fifth place overall after running as low as ninth during the morning stages. Burzet—St. Martial also claimed the first retirement among the World Rally Cars when Thierry Neuville broke the suspension on his Fiesta RS, coming to a halt less than a kilometre from the spot he retired in 2012.
The opening leg of the rally was also marked by technical troubles in the timing logs, with errors in the system falsely recording Loeb as stopping on the first stage. The problem was rectified when Citroën shut off the Global Positioning System tracking devices installed in the cars driven by Loeb and Dani Sordo, but it was some time before organisers were able to confirm the results at the end of the day. Loeb finished the final stage with a lead of one minute and twenty seconds over Ogier, with Hirvonen third, a further twenty-six seconds behind.
Leg 2