A LACK OF SNOW AND ICE FOR THE MONTE-CARLO RALLY, DESPITE THE STAGES LOCATED FURTHER NORTH
This rally could have marked the return of snow and ice, but in fact it looks like being one of the hottest ever of all the 92 Monte Carlo Rallies run. This surprising weather forecast is also the key factory of the first WRC round of the year according to the recce carried out by the Pirelli engineers. Their analysis suggests that only 6% of the 325 or so timed kilometres will feature snow or ice. The iciest stage will be SS9 with 37% of it frozen, followed by SS3 on 12%. The condition the drivers will encounter the most often is wet asphalt (46% of the total distance, concentrated into the first three of the four days of the event), while they will find dry roads on 35% of the course.
TYRE STRATEGY
Given the conditions, the challenge in terms of tyre management will come from the rather high abrasive nature of the majority of surfaces and the slippery conditions in several sections. The tyre wear rate is therefore in the medium-high range (3.5 out of 5). At the moment, it seems the need for winter tyres will be very limited, so the tyre strategy will be concentrated on the soft as the main choice and the supersoft.
SUMMARY OF THE MAIN DATA
Ambient temperature: generally high for this time of year, fluctuating between -1 (only on SS17, the Col de Turini) and 14 degrees.
Surface temperature: generally lower than the ambient, ranging from -3 to +30 (SS5, SS8 and SS15).
Type of surface: from very abrasive and medium abrasive asphalt for the majority of the route, to only occasional ice and snow.
Grip level: generally low and medium-low, especially on Thursday.
Risk of tyre damage: the Pirelli engineers employ a classification that goes from 1 to 5 and on this scale, the Monte-Carlo Rally is rated 3, with the occasional places that are 4 or 5 on Thursday and Saturday.
Tyre stress & wear: very high.
Most challenging sections: 4 and 5 on Saturday.
Most challenging special stages: SS1, SS 2, SS 9, SS11, SS12.
Below are the daily analysis charts in detail and the tyre allocation list per driver.
THE TYRES FOR THE MONTE-CARLO RALLY
P Zero RA WRC: the soft compound version of the asphalt tyre is the specification developed for dry and abrasive surfaces. The supersoft version, updated in 2023, is designed exclusively for the Monte-Carlo Rally, which requires asphalt tyres that work on slippery surfaces as well as in mixed dry-wet conditions and very low temperatures.
Sottozero STZ-B: a highly versatile winter tyres suitable for all car categories and designed for dry, wet, snow or mixed snow and ice surfaces. This specification is available in two versions, non-studded and studded. The most recent evolution of the latter will be supplied as the 2024 Monte-Carlo Rally’s route is more demanding and features more snowy sections than in the past two years. The new version of the studded Sottozero features a more robust and resistant construction than its predecessor.
Each driver in the top category has 80 tyres at their disposal but can use no more than 38 during the event, including four tyres for the shakedown. For the rally, each car’s allocation is as follows:
- 20 P Zero RA Soft SA
- 24 P Zero RA Super Soft SSA
- 24 Sottozero STZ-B studded
- 12 Sottozero STZ-B non-studded
Pirelli also supplies tyres to the other all-wheel drive cars, including the WRC2s entered in the event. For this category, the tyres have similar characteristics in terms of technological solutions and performance to those supplied for WRC1. The allocation for the all-wheel drive cars is as follows:
- 20 P Zero RA7+B Soft
- 16 P Zero RA9 Super Soft
- 24 Sottozero STZ-B studded
- 12 Sottozero STZ-B non-studded