The 2018 Monte Carlo Rally (formally known as the 86e Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 25 and 28 January 2018. It marked the eighty-sixth running of the Monte Carlo Rally, and was the first round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships. The event, which was based in the town of Gap in the Hautes-Alpes department of France, was contested over seventeen special stages totalling a competitive distance of .
Reigning World Drivers' and World Co-Drivers Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the defending rally winners. Their team, M-Sport Ford WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners. Ogier and Ingrassis successfully defended their title to take their sixth win on the event, becoming the second most-successful crew in the event's history. The Škoda Motorsport crew of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler won the World Rally Championship-2 category in a Škoda Fabia R5, while Italian privateers Enrico Brazzoli and Luca Beltrame won 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, World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3 and the French national rally championship as well as privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. The final entry list included twelve crews competing with World Rally Cars, six in the World Rally Championship-2 and four in the World Rally Championship-3.
Route
The 2018 rally featured a heavily revised route from the 2017 event, with half the special stages being new additions. The 2018 rally included an additional of competitive kilometres compared to the route planned in 2017. It featured a mix of new and returning stages in addition to stages that were reconfigured from previous years. The service park was based in the town of Gap, which also featured parc fermé facilities. The itinerary also featured a short stage called "Gap" that allowed the teams to conduct a pre-event shakedown before the ceremonial start in Monaco.
Details
The first leg of the rally is the longest, with in competitive kilometres. The first two stages—including the famous stage between Sisteron and Thoard, which will be run in reverse as Thoard–Sisteron for the first time in the event's history—will be run on the night of 25 January before the crews return to the service park in Gap. The remaining six stages will be held on 26 January on roads to the west of Gap and features two passes over Vitrolles–Oze, which has featured on the route in previous years; and Roussieux–Eygalayes and Vaumeilh–Claret, both of which are new stages.
The second leg is long and is primarily made up of stages east of the town. It features two passes over Agnières-en-Dévoluy–Corps and St.-Leger-les-Mélèzes–La-Bâtie-Neuve, both of which are heavily revised from previous years. The second leg concludes with a pass over Bayons–Bréziers, which was previously run on the first night of competition. After completing service in Gap, the cars return to Monaco.
The third and final leg is long and run on stages in the Alpes-Maritimes department close to the Italian border. The short Lucéram—Col St. Roch stage was replaced by a shortened version of La Bollène-Vésubie–Peïra Cava, which features the Col de Turini and was as the Power Stage in 2017. The new La Cabanette–Col de Braus stage, run as SS15 and again as SS17 will take its place as the Power Stage before the cars return to Monaco once more for the ceremonial finish.
Itinerary
Report
Pre-event
Jêromé Degout, who was due to compete as Bryan Bouffier's co-driver, was injured during shakedown. He was replaced by Xavier Panseri for the rally.
Thursday
The opening leg of the rally started on the evening of 25 January and featured two stages: Thoard–Sisteron and the first pass over Bayons–Bréziers. Conditions proved to be difficult as the forecasted rain and snow did not materialise; however, there were icy conditions on the roads in the first few kilometres of Thoard–Sisteron. Several crews struggled, with Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul losing four minutes after sliding into a ditch. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja also spun, as did Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia; however, unlike Neuville and Gilsoul, both crews were able to recover quickly. Ogier and Ingrassia went on to win both stages to take the overnight lead ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger in second and Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio in third.