A few weeks back we brought you the news from the 2020 Rallye Monte Carlo. But that race was filled with Hyundais and Toyotas. This week’s Rallye Monte Carlo Historique had Alpines, Porsches, and not one, not two, but three mighty Lancia Stratos (Stratoses? Stratii? Straterix?) taking part. You know, the Good Cars.
Starting from a number of points around Europe, participants in the rally made their way towards their destination in Monte Carlo, competing in a number of both open and closed rally stages along the way. This is sort of how the regular Monte Carlo Rally was run at its inception in 1911, with competitors meeting up or “rallying” as they approached Monaco. Though the regular rally now conforms to World Rally Championship guidelines, the spirit of the original remains with the Historique.
The Rallye Monte Carlo Historique, though officially sanctioned by the Federation Internationale d’Automobile (FIA), is more of a celebration of the iconic rallies of the 20th century than a race. In order to participate, your car must be a model that was entered into the regular Rallye Monte Carlo between 1911 and 1980.
Now, that does cut off the notorious Group B cars that competed between 1982 and 1986, but it leaves plenty of the legendary cars from the ‘60s and ‘70s eligible. You know, those Good Cars I was talking about before.
The full list of all participants and their cars (303 in total) can be found here, but I wanted to put a spotlight on a couple of my favourites. Like I said, there were Three Lancia Stratoses out there, but there were also ten Alpines, nearly fifty Porsches, and even a Polski Fiat 125P.
The overall winners of the 2020 rally, the 23rd of its kind, were Dane Henrik Bjerregaard and Czech Jaromir Svec in their ‘79 Ford Escort RS2000, followed up by Rafael Fernandez Cosin and Julen Martinez Huarte in a 1970 Lancia Fulvia HF 1.6. Rounding out the top three were Juan Carlos Zorilla-Hierro and Marcoz Gutierrez-Dominguez in a ‘78 Golf GTI. All great cars, and I’m sure an incredible time was had by all.
If you like the shots up above, have a look here for the rest of the gallery.