The 2025 WRC kicks off in Monte Carlo

The 2025 WRC kicks off in Monte Carlo

The WRC is arguably the craziest motorsports event out there. It's an intimate driving experience filled with supporters, trees, and obstacles at practically every turn, and this year promises to be an interesting one as a few new rules announced ahead of the first race could potentially throw a spanner into the works for some of the teams.

Monte Carlo is the perfect backdrop to kick off the season's events. The Monte Carlo Rally is the Monaco race of the rally world. Although the road is tarred, the mountains can throw a variety of challenging elements for the drivers to tackle, with the most likely being snow and ice. Nevertheless, the 93rd Monte Carlo outing is bound to be stunning thanks to the Alps.

Although Monte Carlo and Monaco aren’t the largest cities out there, there is plenty of ground to cover, spread over 18 stages, covering 344km, with a total rally distance of 1,627km. Even though the endless number of cliff faces will likely lead the drivers to lean on the side of caution, the terrain is everything but a gentle start to the season, and teams will have to tackle the rough roads of the Safari Rally and Winter Rallies in the coming months.

So, let's talk about the teams and drivers. Leading the pack and defending his championship title with the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team in a Hyundai i20, Thierry Neuville displayed a new level of confidence early in the event. He is joined by his fellow N drivers, Ott Tänak, and a newcomer from France, Adrien Fourmaux.

Grégoire Munster, the most experienced driver in the workshop with one full Rally1 season under his belt, will lead the way for the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team in the Ford corner. He will be joined by Josh McErlean, who is an Irish driver with Rally2 experience, and this will be his first outing in a Rally1 car, and I'm sure it will be a thrilling season for the rookie.

As for the menacing Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team, there is no shortage of experience. Sébastien Ogier will lead the way for the Toyota team with his extensive WRC record, with eight world titles and nine Monte Carlo wins. However, he plans to only participate in a partial rally season this year, allowing Toyota hotshot Kalle Rovanperä, who is returning for a full season of racing after his partial 2024 outing, to take the lead. At only 24 years old, Kalle already has two championship titles to his name and will likely be looking for a third this year. As we have seen in the past, Toyota's budget is rather hefty, and this year it will have a five-car strong team. Elfyn Evans, Takamoto Katsuta, and newcomer Sami Pajari will fill the remaining seats.

As for the rule changes, drivers will need to quickly adapt to the lack of hybrid support, which they have grown used to over the past few years. The FIA is striving to make rally cars lighter, simpler, and more affordable. Forming part of these rule changes, the minimum weight requirement has been decreased from 1,260kg to 1,180kg and the engine's air restrictors have been decreased from 36mm to 35mm. It's an interesting backstep for the WRC, but one that will offer the chance for more cars to be competitive cars, and I imagine anything anti-electric is welcome in a sport like rallying.

A new topic of discussion is the change of tyre supplier for this year's racing, as Pirelli has been replaced by Hankook. The FIA speculates that the drivers will have less traction than in previous years, adding another element of change to the driver's expectations.

The 2025 season's first leg kicked off on the 19th of January and concludes on the 26th of January; thereafter, the teams will travel to Sweden for the second leg of the event from the 13th to the 16th of February. This year there are 14 rounds for the drivers to complete and many thousands of dirt-ripping kilometres ahead.

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