WRC Montecarlo Is Every Petrolhead’s Wet Dream

10 February 2017 Redazione Events, News, Racing Cars

If you browse Auto Class’ pages with the same hunger for passion and the adrenaline we imagine, most likely even before saying “mom”, your first words could have been “vroom vroom”, wanting to sound like the engine of some sports car that won your preferences since early age. Those so seemingly innocent toys helped shaping our imprinting, making us grow with four wheels in the brain and the desire to drive for the sheer pleasure of it, completely failing to understand all those who live their moments at the wheel as a simple movement from one place to another. Growing up, this kind of disease has increased, it has evolved into something that we wanted to live day after day, something that was bound to seasoning our gray days, maybe during a relaxing weekend break, or planning an epic drive with friends who share the same dream of getting behind the wheel and drive looking for some road ready to give doses of fun. Within us we have always kept our idols, those undisputed examples that made motorsport something great, those drivers who have been involved in battles on track and that television has transmitted to us directly in our mind and soul, making us dream to assume the role of superheroes that instead of tights and mask wear a racing suit and a helmet. People with attributes, real sports guys light years away from what mass media try to fill our Sundays with (did someone said football?).

And what appointment is more magical than the Monte Carlo Rally? No one, let me tell you. Holiday season finished that we already witnessed the toughest race in the world – the Dakar Rally – and so it’s turn for the WRC championship to start with what is the automotive emblem for every car guys around the globe: the Monte Carlo Rally. Each child has been hours in awe, admiring the feats of the racers who have previously crossed the dangerous roads of the Col de Turini and all the other stages that complete the first leg of the world rally championship. Roads that during the year are regularly open to traffic, and also for this reason everything tends to bring our driving experience vision something truly unique. Rally, one of the few sports still pure and where despite the enormous engineering and technological progress, makes the pilot to make the real difference, thanks to a co-driver that has the task to guide his partner along the grueling hours of competition and a team that is able to replace an engine block or a gearbox in a matter of a few minutes, always ready to face any conditions, day and night, especially since it must be able to repair his own car during the same stages, doing the best he can. And then the audience, a crowd of people that at the time of Group B was opening like the waters in front of Moses and now is always protagonist pulling out from ditches at roadside the cars of their favorite drivers and allowing them to continue the race. One aspect which more than any other makes this sport so human is the fact that everyone race to win, but with a code of honor that few other disciplines never know – they help each others, for they’re all part of the same great show. And so, growing up, the passion never extinguished, but increased – you find yourself chasing the closest races and when you stand in front of a WRC car you understand that those who drive really take them to the limit and that maybe belong to an alien species. Seeing them in action makes you shake your rib cage and thinking about the reflections and liver needed to blast at certain speed through roads a little more wide than the car itself with a frozen road surface – this explains why this love for rally began as a child and is ready to go on forever, with the everlasting hope to turn dreams into reality and take part in a race.

The Monte Carlo Rally, now at its 85^th edition, has been full with surprises and twists, and after the 4-hour race has crowned Ogier as the winner, who thus won the fourth consecutive Monte Carlo. The only negative highlight has been the incident that occurred during the very first stage, where Padden’s car lost control on the ice and ended crashing on a spectator who was not in a safe area. Unfortunately, after arriving at the hospital, the young man died and Padden and his team decided to abandon the race. After the first two night stages the rally resumed the following day with the excellent performance of Neuville and Tanak, with Ogier and Latvala who are not certain here to look. One of the great protagonists that leaves the brawl because of an accident that cost him a broken rear suspension is Kris Meeke, while others continue to defy the ice floes and the insidious conditions of the Monte Carlo Rally. Then in the heart of the competition, Tanak is still plagued by reliability problems to his M-Sport Ford Fiesta and lost precious time – Neuville ends out of the game but manages to win the power stage, earning 5 important points that limit the damage. At the checkered flag, Prince Albert crowned again Ogier, who despite having left the excellent VW Polo for the new Fiesta, does not feel any difference and maintains, even after a hard struggle for supremacy, his hegemony atop the standings with a 2017 season that begins as it is finished in 2016, but with very different and more powerful cars than before. The second step of the podium goes to the Finn Latvala, driving the Toyota Yaris of newborn Team Gazoo, while the unlucky Tanak still managed to finish third, bringing another Ford on the podium. Right behind Sordo and then Breen, just ahead of Evans and Mikkelsen.

Another Monte Carlo, another daydream, another moment of sports and passion that every car guys will keep in the heart for the rest of their life. This time the task for Ogier seemed harder than usual, but you know, the more difficult the sweetest. The next stage is in Sweden, where snow will be the main protagonist, always ready to mix the cards of the game. And like playing dice with fate, the bandwagon of the WRC moves and goes into what promises to be a fighting season we do not witness from a long time. We can’t help but thanks these heroes, because they give us an incomparable spectacle. Vroom vroom!