{"id":435718,"date":"2026-01-25T03:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435718\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T03:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:12:11","slug":"why-wrc-drivers-hailed-return-of-monaco-gp-circuit-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435718\/","title":{"rendered":"Why WRC drivers hailed return of Monaco GP circuit stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The return of World Rally Championship cars tackling Monaco\u2019s famous Grand Prix circuit has proved a hit with drivers who wish the initiative to become a more permanent fixture in the future.<\/p>\n

Monaco\u2019s famous circuit echoed to the sound of WRC for the first time since 2008 as a shortened version of the Formula 1 track played host to a 2.65km super special stage for this year\u2019s Monte Carlo Rally.<\/p>\n

The event has previously held a\u00a0stage\u00a0utilising the grand prix circuit in the 2007 and 2008 editions of the rally. Subaru\u2019s Chris Atkinson<\/a> and Ford\u2019s Fran\u00e7ois Duval<\/a> famously clocked identical fastest times when the Monaco circuit last featured as part of a\u00a0stage\u00a0in 2008.<\/p>\n

\"Liam <\/p>\n

Liam Lawson<\/p>\n

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s edition witnessed crowds flocking to the circuit despite inclement weather to watch the WRC\u2019s elite complete a stage constructed using the start\/finish straight and harbour area of the circuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Racing Bulls Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson<\/a> was in attendance, with the Kiwi afforded several runs of the stage driving a Ford Puma Rally1 car before the stage was live. Hyundai\u2019s Adrien Fourmaux<\/a> won the stage by 0.7s from Toyota\u2019s Takamoto Katsuta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Why SS13 – Monaco Circuit stage felt different<\/p>\n

The WRC hosting super special stages in city centres bringing the rally to the fans is nothing new, but holding such a stage in such an iconic venue such as the Monaco Grand Prix circuit is an initiative that many in the severe park feels is important to grow the category.<\/p>\n

The promotion of the WRC has been a hot topic in recent years, with the subject thrust back into the spotlight as the championship welcomes a new commercial rights holder and owner. From a manufacturer\u2019s perspective, the exposure is crucial.<\/p>\n

\"Adrien <\/p>\n

Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre Coria, , Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1<\/p>\n

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what we need to have in the WRC. Even though the weather is like this, it is full of people and there is a great atmosphere, and this kind of thing we need to have. Bringing it to the people,” said Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hyundai\u2019s Thierry Neuville<\/a> echoed Latvala\u2019s sentiment and is hopeful the stage will return at future Monte Carlo WRC rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was cool and well done to the organisers and the organisation, and this is what rallying needs as well. The crowds are there, and the show was good despite the disastrous weather conditions. I think it is something they should do again,\u201d Neuville told Autosport.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to go to the crowds. This is something I enjoy when it is something nice like a historical circuit. It makes it even more special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Thierry <\/p>\n

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1<\/p>\n

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

His teammate Adrien Fourmaux added: \u201cIt was quite cool to drive on the circuit and I think it is a really good initiative to drive in Monaco because I feel for a few years now the fans in Monaco are not following the rally so much because they just have the start and the finish here. Now we can give them a show, the car the noise and the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should do the whole track \u2014 one lap,” he smiled.<\/p>\n

\"Gr\u00e9goire <\/p>\n

Gr\u00e9goire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1<\/p>\n

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

Super special stages are usually not among drivers favourites when it comes to WRC events, but M-Sport-Ford\u2019s Josh McErlean went as far as saying that the Monaco stage was \u201cmassive for the sport.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is quite bananas to think where you are at and what you are doing. The stage was obviously quite difficult for us on slick tyres and the cobbles were extremely slippy,\u201d said McErlean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a nice way to end the day and for the sport it is massive. It is what it needs and hopefully more cities and towns can do things like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The return of World Rally Championship cars tackling Monaco\u2019s famous Grand Prix circuit has proved a hit with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,927,227537,85,227536,10277],"class_list":["post-435718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-monaco","tag-rally-monte-carlo","tag-sports","tag-why-wrc-drivers-hailed-return-of-monaco-gp-circuit-stage","tag-wrc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}