The 2025 World Rally Championship season is well and truly underway with last weekend’s season opener in Monte Carlo already offering a glimpse into what lies ahead.
There is always an air of excitement and anticipation before the start of a new season, and last week the levels were raised given the unpredictability as to who would adapt to the new 2025 regulations the best.
‘Monte Master’ Ogier untouchable but is this his last?
While there were plenty of unknowns surrounding the new-for-2025 non-hybrid Rally1 cars and how the Hankook tyres would perform, Sebastien Ogier was always going to be in the fight for victory, such is his class at the event.
But even Ogier admitted in the lead-up that crews would be “less prepared than ever” for Monte Carlo given the regulations changes and the limited testing. But everyone was in the same boat heading into Monte and the eight-time champion quite rightly said that “whoever adapts the best will have a good chance [for victory]”.
Experience is always crucial to succeed in the Monte and Ogier has that in abundance, already a record nine-time winner before a wheel had been turned in anger last week. So it wasn’t really a surprise to see Ogier immediately on the pace and in the lead from Thursday night, but it was still impressive how he dominated such a challenging rally, now aged 41.
But victory was not a given for Ogier and he did have to ride his luck on more than one occasion. Twice he flirted with disaster, once when he skirted a ditch on Thursday and then there was a wild slide on Friday, but there was no stopping Ogier. There was some pressure on Sunday morning when a call for winter tyres initially appeared to backfire, but Ogier held his nerve to seal an astonishing 10th win in style with a victory on the Power Stage to beat Elfyn Evans by 18.5s.
There was plenty of emotion when Ogier reached the finish. First, he dedicated the win to his late uncle who had inspired his motorsport journey and who passed this time last year. Then there was the bombshell that he posed - suggesting he was unsure if this was his last Monte appearance.
“I don’t know what it means but for me the world. I have no idea if this will be my last one. It would be a good place to stop,” said Ogier.
If this was Ogier’s last Monte then the victory will rank high among his others (2009 as part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, then in the WRC in 2014-2019, 2021 and 2023) given the challenge of adjusting to new regulations, tyres and taming incredibly slippery conditions.
Ogier is hopeful this isn’t his last Monte hurrah. There will be a few thousand fans or so who were crammed into the Gap service park to catch a glimpse of their hero who certainly hope it isn’t too.
Evans addressing 2024 weaknesses
When considering Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier is only conducting a partial season, Elfyn Evans leaves Monte Carlo as the effective championship leader and will open the road in Sweden next month.
The Welshman was in fine form in Monte Carlo’s challenging conditions where any small mistake is punished heavily. Evans emerged with the rally lead after stage four and only relinquished it to Ogier on stage eight.
The Toyota driver became embroiled in an intense battle for second with Hyundai duo Adrien Fourmaux and Ott Tanak but was able to fight back against his rivals and ultimately came out on top. What was perhaps the most impressive aspect of Evans’ performance was how he addressed one of his 2024 weaknesses. Super Sunday wasn’t so super for Evans last year, picking up 76 points compared to champion Thierry Neuville’s 104-point haul.
This year the Super Sunday points are structured with a maximum of 10 on offer instead of 12. Evans sent out a big statement by picking up nine of the 10 by topping the Sunday classification and finishing second on the Power Stage.
“It is a good start and we have to be very happy,” Evans told Autosport. “It [Sundays] was definitely not our strong point last year so to start like this is good.”
If Evans can continue this kind of form, he will be firmly in the title fight this year.
Fourmaux is the real deal
Hyundai’s persistence in capturing the signature of Adrien Fourmaux is already looking to be one of the shrewdest moves in recent WRC driver market history.
Fourmaux earned a lucrative deal at the factory Hyundai team off the back of a stellar 2024 where the Frenchman scored five podiums for M-Sport-Ford. The 29-year-old seemingly picked up from where he left off last year to finish third on his debut for the Korean marque last weekend.
Hyundai has been smart since it managed to get Fourmaux to put pen to paper. In the off-season, 1000 kilometres of testing have been completed to help Fourmaux acclimatise to his i20 N Rally1 machine. It seemed to have paid off in Monte Carlo as the 2023 British rally champion was on the pace from the start.
Fourmaux has stated that his main target this year is to achieve a first win and last weekend there was even a faint chance that he could snatch the victory away from Ogier. An inspired tyre call to take four super soft and two winter tyres on Sunday heaped the pressure on Ogier and Evans.
In the end, Fourmaux had to settle for third but comfortably ahead of his more experienced world champion team-mates Ott Tanak and reigning champion Thierry Neuville, as the latter had a weekend to forget.
“It is really great to get our first podium in our first race for Hyundai and in such a really complicated rally,” said Fourmaux.
“I think we put a lot of pressure on Elfyn and Seb in the last stage and we knew if the snow was melting enough we could have got the victory. It didn’t pay off. It has been a good start but we will see, as my team-mates are two world champions so I must keep my head on my shoulders.”
Hankook impresses on WRC debut but some drivers need to adapt
The biggest talking point heading into the new season was the introduction of a new control tyre supplier with Hankook taking over the deal previously held by Pirelli.
Drivers had shared concerns in testing, particularly over Hankook’s winter tyre as they battled to adjust to the new rubber.
Since winning the FIA’s tender, Hankook developed a range of asphalt, gravel and snow tyres throughout 2024 to be ready to take on the unique demands of the WRC. The process has included 3,800 kilometres of testing on all surfaces, conducted in conjunction with Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport-Ford WRC teams.
But how would the tyres cope under the intense scrutiny of the WRC season opener in Monte Carlo?
In truth, Hankook passed its first litmus test with flying colours. There were a couple of punctures but on the whole, the tyres stood up to the demands that were thrown at them, and appear to be incredibly durable on first showing. They are however different and drivers are still trying to unlock how to get the best out of them.
Two-time champion Kalle Rovanpera was perhaps the most vocal about the tyres, conceding that his driving style just doesn’t suit the new slick and he will need to adapt. But on the whole teams and drivers were reasonably content after Hankook’s debut.
“That’s [durability] the most important thing because we don’t want to see the result decided by who is having luck with the tyres,” said Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala.
“The durability of the tyres have been really strong and thanks to Hankook for that. There are some areas where the grip levels could be improved, but as a starting point I think they have done a good job.”
New dawn for M-Sport showing promise
M-Sport-Ford made it clear before crews gathered in Monte Carlo that its plan was to do its ‘own thing’ with its youthful driver line-up of Gregoire Munster and Rally1 debutant Josh McErlean and not focus on fighting Toyota and Hyundai.
In Monte Carlo, there were plenty of smiles in the M-Sport camp and promise that there could be some strong results to come over the 14-round season. Munster delivered perhaps his best day yet in a Rally1 car to run as high as fourth on Friday before a mechanical issue denied the Luxembourger a shot at equalling his career-best finish of fifth.
A maiden stage win followed when Munster rejoined the rally which was thoroughly deserved, offering signs that he can compete with the world’s elite. An accident on Sunday blighted his rally but there are signs of good things to come in 2025.
McErlean admitted that making his Rally1 debut in Monte Carlo would be a baptism of fire. It certainly was but the Irishman avoided all the dangers to gain valuable mileage and points on debut, finishing seventh.
“Obviously it is a huge shame that Greg and co-driver Louis [Louka] didn't make it to the end of the event, having the opening road position the last two days has been an advantage in some ways, but today showed it can also be a disadvantage - being the first crew to find the tricky black ice sections,” said team principal Richard Millener.
“But still, they can go away from here very happy - proving that they have what it takes to mix with the top crews, and they claimed their first-ever stage win, what a great job.
“For Josh and Eoin, this weekend was a pure baptism of fire, it was a proper Monte and I think the amount of information and work that goes into being involved with a manufacturer team was a big eye-opener for them both. Regardless of this, they did everything we asked of them - get the car home in one piece. They got more confident and quicker as the weekend went on and they leave here with championship points in the bag - where other far more experienced crews leave empty handed.”
