The 2018 Monte Carlo Rally (formally known as the 86e Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 25 and 28 January 2018. It marked the eighty-sixth running of the Monte Carlo Rally, and was the first round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships. The event, which was based in the town of Gap in the Hautes-Alpes department of France, was contested over seventeen special stages totalling a competitive distance of . Reigning World Drivers' and World Co-Drivers Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the defending rally winners. Their team, M-Sport Ford WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners. Ogier and Ingrassis successfully defended their title to take their sixth win on the event, becoming the second most-successful crew in the event's history. The Škoda Motorsport crew of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler won the World Rally Championship-2 category in a Škoda Fabia R5, while Italian privateers Enrico Brazzoli and Luca Beltrame won the World Rally Championship-3. Background Entry list The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3 and the French national rally championship as well as privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. The final entry list included twelve crews competing with World Rally Cars, six in the World Rally Championship-2 and four in the World Rally Championship-3. Route The 2018 rally featured a heavily revised route from the 2017 event, with half the special stages being new additions. The 2018 rally included an additional of competitive kilometres compared to the route planned in 2017. It featured a mix of new and returning stages in addition to stages that were reconfigured from previous years. The service park was based in the town of Gap, which also featured parc fermé facilities. The itinerary also featured a short stage called "Gap" that allowed the teams to conduct a pre-event shakedown before the ceremonial start in Monaco. Details The first leg of the rally is the longest, with in competitive kilometres. The first two stages—including the famous stage between Sisteron and Thoard, which will be run in reverse as Thoard–Sisteron for the first time in the event's history—will be run on the night of 25 January before the crews return to