Thursday | 21 Jan 2016

Service Park Spy: Rallye Monte-Carlo

Here are some of the service park sights that caught our attention as teams geared up for the WRC season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Fresh start for Fløene
One of many drivers sporting unfamiliar overalls this week, Andreas Mikkelsen's former co-driver Ola Fløene made his first WRC appearance alongside Mads Østberg at Wednesday's shakedown. The pair will start Rallye Monte-Carlo having spent just one day together in their Ford Fiesta RS WRC car. "It's working - at least I think it was," Ostberg said after the session. "Both of use were a bit shocked on the first run though."

Ogier the home town hero 
This might be Rallye Monte-Carlo, but much of the event is based 250km north in Gap, the largest town of the Hautes-Alpes region and home of three time world champion Sébastien Ogier. No surprise then that Seb has plenty of fan support here. For die-hard Ogier fans though, the place to be is Friday's Les Costes - Chaillol stage (SS5/8) which gets closest to Ogier's childhood home near the village of St-Bonnet-en-Champsaur. 

A new look for Bertelli
With his close links to the Prada fashion house, you can count on Lorenzo Bertelli to be at the cutting edge of style. And that goes for his rally car too. His former green, military-inspired scheme looked so last season the moment he revealed this new mirror-silver Fiesta RS in Gap.

Hyundai's new car
Expectations are high for Hyundai's New Generation i20, which makes its long-awaited WRC debut this week. So far it's showed lots of promise. Dani Sordo drove his car to third fastest time at shakedown, and we reckon the new four-door body looks good too. Pictured is Sordo's car (in the foreground) next to the 2015 version Hayden Paddon will drive here. Note the new slimline roof scoop, offset to sit directly above the driver's head. It's moved from the middle of the roof to smooth the air flow over the rear spoiler.

The Abu Dhabi duo
Citroën might not be competing in an official capacity this year, but its DS 3 World Rally Cars are out in force this weekend, running under the Abu Dhabi Total World Rally team banner and in a new red, white and silver livery. Kris Meeke and Stéphane Lefebvre are the two DS 3 drivers for the Monte, with the latter getting used to a new co-driving partnership with Gabin Moreau.

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