The 2007 Monte Carlo Rally (formally known as the ) was a rallying autosports race held over four days between and , and operated out of , France. It was the first race of the 2007 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. Contested over fifteen stages at a length of , Sébastien Loeb won the race for the Citroën Total World Rally Team. Dani Sordo finished second in the other Citroën works car, with Marcus Grönholm finishing third in a Ford.
Loeb, driving an all new Citroën C4 WRC car which had been in development throughout 2006, took control of the race from the outset, winning the two stages on the first day and four more stages over the following three days. His teammate Sordo kept the pressure on, winning three stages, but on Stage 6, Loeb extended his lead from 6.6 seconds to nearly 24 seconds, and from thereon became unattainable. Each stage on the first two Legs were won by either Loeb or Sordo, and it was not until Saturday afternoon on the second run of the day's stages, that other drivers could effectively challenge them. The last two days of the race consisted of a duel between Mikko Hirvonen, who drove a factory 2006 model Ford Focus RS WRC, and Chris Atkinson in a factory Subaru Impreza WRC 2006. After Hirvonen completed Stage 2 in fourth place, Atkinson took the position on Stage 3 and held onto it throughout Friday and into Saturday morning's stages. On Stage 12 on Saturday afternoon, Hirvonen retook fourth, Atkinson regained it on Stage 13 but then lost it to Hirvonen again following Stage 14. Atkinson won the final stage on Sunday morning, and finished the race back in fourth position.
Controversially, the 2007 Monte Carlo Rally was no longer based in Monaco and localities nearby, where it had been held in recent years. The event only visited Monte Carlo with its final special stage, a short run on part of the Circuit de Monaco and the rest of the time was spent in and around Valence hundreds of kilometres north of Monaco in the region. Many of the locations had not been visited since the 1990s, such as the and , and only one top level driver had competitively driven on the roads before. The 2007 event also marked the return of the nighttime stages.
Loeb's win was his fourth at Monte Carlo and twenty-ninth in WRC. It was the sixth time that he had achieved a podium position there, which brought his WRC podium finishes to forty-eight. He earned ten points in the World Rally Championship for Drivers. Sordo was two points behind him, while Grönholm was in third position with six points. With Atkinson and Hirvonen in fourth and fifth place, Petter Solberg, Toni Gardemeister and Jan Kopecký were the other points finishers. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Citroën Total World Rally Team earned the maximum eighteen points for their 1–2 finish, BP Ford World Rally Team placed second, with ten points, with the Subaru World Rally Team placing third with eight points.
Report
Background The 2007 Monte Carlo Rally was the first round of the 2007 World Rally Championship (WRC) season after taking a six-week break since the last race of the 2006 season in Great Britain. It was held over four days from to . With pressure from the president of and being beset with criticism for running a chaotic route in the 2006 Monte Carlo Rally, (ACM), the rally organisers, chose to move 2007's race away from Monte Carlo and the roads around and other departments within the region. Instead, the rally HQ was set up in ,Holmes (2007); pp. 44–45. almost away from Monte Carlo, with most stages being held in . While some stages were brand new to the rally, some places, such as , , , , , , and the – route had played host to Monte Carlo Rally stages in the 1990s and earlier. Only Manfred Stohl, driving for OMV-Kronos Citroën World Rally Team, was familiar with these roads, as he had competed on them in the late 1990s.Bourret, Joubin (2007); p. 50.Holmes (2007); pp. 146, 149.
Although the 25,000 spectators seemed pleased that the rally had returned to the region, the drivers, team bosses and Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; WRC's governing body) were less enthusiastic.Bourret, Joubin (2007); p. 51. Over a total distance of , the fifteen stages totalled , which was shorter than the FIA's regulatory minimum of for Special Stages.WRC Sp. Regs. (2007); p. 2, §3.2.1. The drivers hoped that with the rally taking place on higher altitudes, wintery conditions and burle (a freezing wind blowing from the north) would produce ice and snow on the ground, making for a more exciting event; however, except for some rain on Thursday evening it never came to fruition and the prevailing weather was clear and dry.Holmes (2007); p. 45 Sébastien Loeb was unhappy with the weekend's weather forecast. Following his reconnaissance run, he said, "With snow everywhere and walls on both sides of the road, like in the old days, some of these stages would have been brilliant. But because it's dry, in some places that makes it less interesting because than the roads further south with all their corners."WRC Highlights 2007 at 6m 01s in. The service park in Valence was also much smaller than what had been used in Monaco, so there were no Production World Rally Championship or Junior Rally Championship categories, and fewer entries of competitors.Holmes (2007); p. 46. It was also badly located and poorly run, and WRC's commercial director David Richards said that the service area was "like a car boot sale".
After being absent from the WRC for the 2006 season to spend thirteen months concentrating on preparing their new vehicle, the Citroën Total World Rally Team returned in 2007 ready to début it in the Monte Carlo Rally. The Citroën Xsara WRC had dominated the championship in recent years, and despite its age it was still incredibly reliable and was only replaced because the Xsara model was no longer in production.Holmes (2007); p. 157 The C4's mechanical components, such as the engine, transmission, differentials and suspension were either very similar to, or came from, the Xsara,Bourret, Joubin (2007); p. 28. but the wheelbase and chassis were longer by and , respectively, which meant that under WRC rules the C4 could be widened to . It was also higher than the Xsara, and the weight distribution had been fine-tuned, including raising and moving back the front seats (which had the negative effect of reducing the drivers' visibility), and attaching the wing mirrors to the midpoint along the front doors.WRC Highlights 2007 at 8m 53s in. The C4's test drivers reported that the car handled more stably.
Citroën was confident the C4 would be successful yet concerned as to whether it would beat the ,Evans (2007); p. 68. which had won the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers title in 2006 for the BP-Ford World Rally Team. The Focus, in addition had undergone its own developments during the winter break. The tarmac testing of the C4 showed it to be faster than the outgoing Xsara, but Loeb knew that that performance might not show itself in the race. "The car has been good in testing. But what about the rally?" he asked. "I don't know." Marcus Grönholm, the Ford team's number 1 driver, was wary, however. "It's got thousands of k's on the clock. It was running when the Focus WRC 06 was still on the board." Meanwhile, the Subaru World Rally Team were waiting for the to be ready for the 2007 Rally Mexico in March. The team knew that the 2006 version, which had performed poorly the previous season, would be no match for the Focus or C4. Added to the fact that the cars were equipped with unfamiliar tyres after Pirelli decided not to supply any teams in 2007, and they were hoping that Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson could just earn some points from the race.
Forty-nine crews registered to compete in the rally, Of the top-tier drivers entered, Jean-Marie Cuoq was the only WRC rookie, and Chris Atkinson, Henning Solberg, and Matthew Wilson had driven at Monte Carlo only once before, all in 2006.Holmes (2007); pp. 142, 146. The starting order for Leg 1 was "Priority 1" (P1) and P2 WRC drivers in the order of the final classification of the 2006 season, followed by all other drivers as decided by the ACM.WRC Sp. Regs. (2007); p. 3, §§3.5.2.1(a), 3.5.2.1(c). Loeb, the previous season's champion, set off first, followed by Grönholm, then Mikko Hirvonen. Loeb and Grönholm were the favourites to win; Loeb had won the Monte Carlo three times in a row between 2003 and 2005, and Grönholm had won in 2006.Holmes (2007); pp. 143–144. Nevertheless, there were worries that Loeb would not be physically fit enough to win. Four months earlier he had broken his left shoulder in a mountain-biking accident, and there was a chance he might not even compete in the first part of the season.Evans (2007); p. 14. His physiotherapists and consultants told him that because of the operations he had had on his arm, he should definitely have sat out the Monte Carlo Rally. Loeb admitted that he was "really stressed" before the start, and wondered whether his arm would be okay.Evans (2007); p. 30. "It has been okay in testing but what about the long stages?" he asked. His answer: "I don't know."
Race Following a ten-year absence of nighttime-run stages,Holmes (2007); p. 44. the first two Special Stages of the event were held on Thursday night. They were the first night stages scheduled in the rally since 1997. Throughout the day it had rained, and although it had stopped before the race began, the roads were still very wet and slippery. In discussing the day's weather, Grönholm said that he expected the stages that night to be difficult, and added, "I hope this time we can take the right tyres, we were always a little bit on the wrong side [last year] – it’s not easy, but I hope we will manage to get it right this time." Earlier in the day, the crews had driven a shakedown stage in Mauves; however, due to a large number of fans and spectators along the route the shakedown was stopped early, and some crews including Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena were forced to carry out last-minute testing and necessary changes to their cars on the main roads back to Valence.Bourret, Joubin (2007); p. 48. Though forty-nine crews registered in the rally, only forty-seven actually competed. Privateers François Duval driving a , and Angelo Villa in a failed to start the event.