How Monte masters stole the show as WRC's hybrid era blasted off

The new Rally1 hybrid cars made their competition debuts in Monte Carlo, but it was two semi-retired drivers who took centre stage in a thrilling battle between two of the World Rally Championship's most successful names. Here's how Sebastien Loeb completed a remarkable return on his M-Sport debut by beating reigning champion Sebastien Ogier

The 90th edition of the storied Monte Carlo Rally will be remembered for generations. Monte Carlo welcomed a new, unpredictable Rally1 hybrid era but it was a couple of semi-retired elder statesmen that stole the show, as World Rally Championship legends Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier starred in an enthralling battle for the ages.

Imagine Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher going head-to-head almost at their peak - this was rallying’s equivalent. When it was announced that nine-time champion Loeb would be making a WRC comeback at the Monte with M-Sport Ford, it set tongues wagging, especially once newly crowned eight-time champion Ogier confirmed the famous event would feature in his now scaled-down partial programme for Toyota.

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Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.