DAVID EVANS
“It felt like an extended French series round”
F
irst there was Gilles Panizzi. And then Francois Delecour. Both of them wandering the streets of Monaco – not together I might add – entirely unmolested on the weekend of the opening round of the World Rally Championship. On the weekend of the Monte Carlo Rally.
Something was amiss. How could it be that such legends of French rallying were untroubled by folk looking to stand aside them before grinning inanely at their own telephone?
It’s relatively simple, really. There was a genuine danger that blinking would have meant missing the WRC’S visit to the world’s most famous principality.
What’s become a traditional Thursday evening ceremonial start from Casino Square was dropped this year. The schlep from the service park in Gap down to Monaco and back is something that’s long been moaned about.
Last week highlighted how misguided such views were. In the words of Toyota team principal and four-time winner of the world’s most famous rally Tommi Makinen: “We need to put the Monte Carlo back in Monte Carlo.” And we must. Without Thursday night, the only interaction between Monte Carlo and its rally – apart from the finish celebrations – came when the cars arrived in town after dark on Saturday and departed before dawn on Sunday morning. Had it not been for Michelin’s tyre transporter and a random Toyota Gazoo Racing truck, you could easily have passed through without really knowing the rally was on.
Makinen advocates turning the event on its head: basing it out of Monaco again and then taking a couple of long loops up into the Hautes-alpes with either an overnight in Gap or a remote service before extending the Alpes-maritimes action beyond the Turini and Col de Braus stages.
I love Gap and I love being based in the heart of the event, but last week it felt like the best cars and drivers in the world were competing on an extended French Championship round.
There were a few in Gap who pointed to mine being a complicated position on this one. As you know, Motorsport Network was proud to host the launch of the WRC at Autosport International earlier this month and there was a feeling that a Thursday in Monaco might render Birmingham redundant. Utter nonsense.
Appreciation for the launch across the WRC was universal and, coming 12 days ahead of Monte Carlo, it provides a perfectly timed springboard into the new season. Casino Square complements the NEC perfectly. It’s possible that’s the first time that sentence has ever been written, but it’s absolutely true.
Looking beyond the logistics, what a fabulous start to the season round one provided. An absolute thriller that’s sure to act as a precursor to a sensational year. Understandably, there were frustrations at WRC Promoter’s All Live service falling down from time to time and I can completely understand that feeling of being short-changed. But I watched first hand as those in charge worked night after night in pursuit of a workable solution. They’re getting there. We’ve taken a big leap in the last 12 months and we’re in a different world from 2017.