WRC: Unusual finale at Monza 🎥

The teaser draws attention to the WRC finale and shows the remaining four title contenders Evans, Ogier, Neuville and Tänak in short interviews.

Since 1978, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza has hosted an annual rally spectacle in November or December. Prominent drivers from the WRC or other motorsport disciplines mix with the rally specialists from Italy.

Prominent winners
From 2006 to 2018, MotoGP superstar Valentino Rossi won the Monza Rally Show no fewer than eight times, always in a Ford Fiesta WRC. Former endurance world champion and Le Mans winner Rinaldo Capello was also celebrated as a winner before "Vale" and in between.

Sébastien Loeb (2011), Dani Sordo (2010 and 2013) and Robert Kubica (2014) were the only overall winners from abroad to date.

Only two and a half WRC rallies as planned
This year is everything else. After the first three WRC rounds in Monte Carlo, Sweden and Mexico (prematurely stopped after two stages) were still able to take place on the planned date, one rally after another fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic and its restrictions.

The competition only resumed in September with the Rally Estonia, which was included in the WRC for the first time, as the fourth WRC round of 2020. Defending champion Ott Tänak achieved his first victory at home with Hyundai. He was followed by Welshman Elfyn Evans (Toyota) as the winner in Turkey and Spaniard Dano Sordo (Hyundai) on the Italian island of Sardinia.

From the Autodromo to the mountains and back
The promoters of the WRC and the operators of the Autodromo in Monza have succeeded in fulfilling and guaranteeing the measures against the spread of the coronavirus, which have since been tightened again. This means that the WRC finale from December 3 to 6 can be held at a new and apparently safe venue.

After the shakedown on Thursday afternoon, the rally begins on Friday morning with a total of five special stages around and on the circuit, including the historic steep-walled oval. On Saturday, the teams have two loops with three stages each on the schedule, which take place in the mountains around Bergamo.

These loops make up almost half of the 241.14 kilometers of racing to be completed at the 2020 Monza Rally, which is part of the World Championship for the first time. After returning to the race track, where a final stage will take place on Saturday, three final stages will be driven there on Sunday, December 6, before the 2020 world champions are decided.

The first Briton in 19 years?
Elfyn Evans leads the drivers' standings with 111 points, 14 points ahead of his Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier (97). Hyundai drivers Thierry Neuville (87) and Ott Tänak (83) also still have a theoretical chance of winning the title.

With 30 points still up for grabs (25 for victory and 5 for first place in the Power Stage), the advantage is clearly with Evans, who could become the first Briton since Richard Burns in 2001 to become world champion in a Subaru. For Ogier, it would be his seventh title since 2021. Of the four title contenders, only Neuville knows what to expect from previous appearances at the Monza Rally Show.

In the team standings, Hyundai (208) is only seven points ahead of Toyota (201). With Dani Sordo (Hyundai), most recently winner in Italy, and Kalle Rovanperä, fifth in the WRC with 70 points, the teams are relying on strong third drivers to increase their title chances.

The short video shows Kalle Rovanperä during test drives in the northern Italian region.

A Swiss driver and two co-pilots from Ticino
Yoan Loeffler from Bex, driving a Renault Clio V RS Line, is the 95th and final competitor with the number #107 and is also a Swiss driver. He recently practiced with it at the Rally di Como, which is very close by.

Marco Menchini and Pietro d'Agostinol, both driving Skoda Fabia R5s, are two Italian co-drivers from Ticino.

acirallymonza.com

wrc.com