The WRC event director, Simon Larkin, assures that the route of Rallye Monte Carlo will not be changed in the future despite the fact that there was no snow in this year's stages.
Many WRC drivers including Sebastien Ogier, Kalle Rovanpera and Thierry Neuville agreed that Rallye Monte Carlo should move northern and return to Gap as there were dry conditions in the stages this year. In the past, Gap was the hosted city of Rallye Monte Carlo, but WRC Promoter and FIA decided to change the route of the rally and Monaco became the center of the rally the recent years.
Sebastien Ogier was the winner of the 91th version of Rallye Monte Carlo claiming his ninth victory and became the WRC driver with the most wins there. Kalle Rovanpera and Thierry Neuville completed the podium last weekend. In WRC2 class, Yohan Rossel won the first round of this season's championship after his team protested against Nikolay Gryazin who received a 5-second time penalty for cutting the road and eventually lost his first victory with the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
"The reason we are back in Monaco is that everyone wanted to be back in Monaco and we are delighted to be back in the heart of the country that hosts us", Larkin said.
"It creates a good atmosphere for everyone.
"The only reason we would move out of Monaco is the never ending cycle of construction in this harbour area.
"We are on the limit on how many competitors we can have in this area, and the rally was limited, and was well over subscribed, but that is the compromise we have to make.
"If and when something comes up that could cost us a couple of hundred square metres then it puts on the limit of bringing here for a year, but we will see.
"WRC Promoter and the ACM are determined to be here in Monaco with the service park, and even if that means compromising the amount of space for the teams, then that is a decision we are willing to take.
"I think this year is a bit of an anomaly and very, very unusual.
"We can see how cold it was even on Thursday and it was cold at night, but the fact there hasn’t been snow is just that".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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