2006 Monte Carlo Rally

Infobox Rally
name = 2006 Monte Carlo Rally
native_name = 74ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo
round = 1
championship = 2006 World Rally Championship
next_round = 2006 Swedish Rally
country =MCO


caption = View of the casino - the official start place of the Monte Carlo Rally
rallybase = Monte Carlo
startdate = January 20 2006
enddate = January 22 2006
stages = 18
stagekm = 366.39
overallkm = 1336.13
surface = Tarmac / Ice / Snow
driver1 = flagicon|FIN Marcus Grönholm
team1 = flagicon|USA Ford Focus RS WRC 06
teamsstart = 51
teamsfinish = 43The 74ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo ("74th Monte-Carlo Rally") , the first round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season took place between January 20th and 22nd, 2006.__TOC__

Pre-event

The first event of the season saw many changes from the previous year. The new season saw just two full manufacturer teams compete (Ford and Suburu). [cite news
url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4625034.stm
title = Rally boss rejects talk of crisis
date = 2006-01-18
access date = 2008-04-17
publisher = bbc.co.uk] Citroën supported a semi works effort through the Kronos team. Stobart increased their profile by creating a team using old Fords. OMV Peugeot Norway used the Peugeot 307 while Skoda maintained their presence through a team sponsored by Red Bull.

On the drivers front, Ford had a new lineup consisting of two time champion Marcus Grönholm and the promising young driver Mikko Hirvonen [cite web
title = Hirvonen confirms switch to Ford
work = bbc.co.uk
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4450046.stm
date = 2005-11-18
accessdate = 2008-04-26] . Kronos used Citroëns twice world champion Sébastien Loeb alongside Xavier Pons. [cite web
title = Loeb switches to Kronos for 2006
work = bbc.co.uk
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4408732.stm
date = 2005-11-04
accessdate = 2008-04-26] Suburu retained Petter Solberg with Stéphane Sarrazin [cite web
title = Subaru keep asphalt ace Sarrazin
work = bbc.co.uk
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4498574.stm
date = 2005-12-05
accessdate = 2008-04-27] and Chris Atkinson [cite web
title = Atkinson extends his Subaru deal
work = bbc.co.uk
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4455604.stm
date = 2005-11-21
accessdate = 2008-04-27] due to share the second seat depending on the surface. Stobart used a mixture of drivers alongside
Matthew Wilson in his first full year. Manfred Stohl and Henning Solberg (Petters brother) used the previously unloved Peugeot 307s. There were no places for Markko Martin who fired an angry broadside before the Monte Carlo Rally at the direction the sport was taking [cite web
title = Angry Martin wants rally overhaul
work = bbc.co.uk
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4607950.stm
date = 2006-01-12
accessdate = 2008-04-27] . Toni Gardemeister lost his place at Ford along with Roman Kresta, both not doing enough to impress Malcolm Wilson during 2005.
Francois Duval didn't find a seat after his erratic 2005 season, and there was still no place available for Colin McRae despite two promising performances for Skoda in 2005.

Results

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Manufacturers' championship

References

External links

* [http://www.ewrc-results.com/final.php?event=1 Results] at [http://www.ewrc-results.com/ eWRC.com]
* [http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=405&season=2006&rally_id=MC Results] from the official site: [http://www.wrc.com/ WRC.com]
* [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=result&rallyid=421 Results] on [http://www.rallybase.nl/ RallyBase.nl]