Toyota Gazoo hoping for double WRC celebration this week
After the cancellation of last month’s Rally Belgium due to Covid-19, the battle for the 2020 WRC titles will be decided at the weekend’s Rally Monza.
First held in 1978, it was an end-of-season celebration for a diverse field drawn from track racing and rallying.
Multiple champion Sebastien Loeb won in 2011, while Dani Sordo was victorious in 2010 and 2013.
But the master of Monza, with seven victories between 2006 and 2018, is MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.
Based at the Autodromo Nazionale de Monza, also the central service park, the 95 entries will tackle 241km over 16 special stages of the gruelling 502km rally total.
Tomorrow morning’s shakedown will be followed by the first stage prior to the overnight parc ferme at the Monza circuit.
Friday uses the same venue before Saturday’s move to the difficult mountain stages in the north eastern region of Lombardy, returning to Monza for the final stages and the podium ceremony on Sunday.
The Grand Prix circuit stages of Friday and Saturday will be run in darkness.
Reigning manufacturer’s champion Hyundai Shell Mobis
WRT on 208 points will be fighting to retain the slender seven-point lead over Toyota Gazoo WRT (201 points), with M-Sport Ford WRT on 117 points.
Hyundai will field a formidable line-up with current driver’s champion Ott Tanak (83 points), Thierry Neuville (87 points) and Dani Sordo (26 points).
Toyota Gazoo WRT will be pushing hard for both titles with an equally strong team.
Six-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier (97 points), Welshman Elfyn Evans (111 points) – achingly close to his first WRC title – and Kalle Rovanpera (70 points) will be in full support in the quest for the double championship.