What a rally! One of the best I've watched for a long time, and even better as I got to watch 12 of the 13 stages live on TV. The live coverage that Eurosport is able to broadcast is very impressive, and years ahead of the WRC. It looks likely that it will stay that way too after it was announced that the WRC will be screened on ESPN this year, which is a subscription only channel. On the face of it this seems like a poor choice but I assume someone must know that they are doing, for the future of the WRC I hope.
Bryan Bouffier's name topped the time sheet at the end of the Monte Carlo, but that doesn't give you the full picture. A good tyre choice, or rather a poor tyre choice by other crews moved him from 7th overall to leading the rally in just one snow covered stages. I think if the weather hadn't intervened he would have had trouble breaking into the top 5. The real star of the show was Juho Hanninen. Up until stage 7 it looked like no one would be able to catch him. His turn of speed for a man who isn't considered a tarmac expect was remarkable. It is clear to see that he has lifted himself above the IRC regulars and that he fully deserves his chance in the WRC.
I was pleased to see that the 207 is still a match for the Fabia. I had worried that the championship wouldn't be that exciting this year if it was just between the Skodas, but it looks like there will be a good battle. Guy Wilks had a good event, set some quick times and didn't put a foot wrong to finish with 3rd place points, which gets his 2011 campaign off to a good start. Andreas Mikkelsen only made it 4 corners into stage 1 before sliding wide on cold tyres and hitting a wall. Let's hope that his luck changes before the next round.
Chris Patterson and Petter Solberg were having a great run until it snowed and with the chance of victory gone it seemed to knock the wind out of Petter sails. Petter was fully on the pace up till then, running as high as 2nd and leading Peugeot which just goes to show the man's class. Unfortunately the car let them down on the road section after the last stage and they were not classified as finishers. Eamonn Boland had a good rally, consistently running in the top 5 in Group N and finishing 28th overall and 6th in class. Daniel Barry was also setting some good times in Group N, until he got caught out on the wrong tyres in the snow on stage 8 and put the car off the road.
Results:
http://www.acm.mc/ramc/ramc_main.php
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