2010 Monte Carlo Rally
Introduction The '''2010 Monte-Carlo Rally''', officially '''78ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo''', was the first round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season. The rally took place over January 19–23, 2010.
Introduction The rally started in Valence on Tuesday 19 January covering  including  on fifteen special stages. New to the IRC Championship, a  prologue was held on Tuesday evening to determine the starting order for Wednesday's stages. Stages were run both during the day and at night and included the famous Col de Turini.Entrants for the event included the current IRC Champion Kris Meeke who was seeded at number 1, Formula One driver Robert Kubica, WRC stars Mikko Hirvonen and Toni Gardemeister and Rally Scotland winner Guy Wilks. The event saw the debut of the Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car. A total of 63 crews entered the rally including nineteen S2000 cars.
Results Finn Mikko Hirvonen driving the Ford Fiesta in competition for the first time and making his debut in the IRC, led the event from start to finish.===Overall=== Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points 1.Mikko Hirvonen  Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Fiesta S2000 4:32:58.5 0.0 10 2.Juho Hänninen  Mikko Markkula  Škoda Fabia S2000 4:34:49.9 1:51.4 8 3.Nicolas Vouilloz  Benjamin Veillas  Škoda Fabia S2000  4:36:17.6 3:19.1 6 4.Stéphane Sarrazin  Jacques-Julien Renucci Peugeot 207 S2000 4:40:24.0 7:25.5 5 5.Jan Kopecký  Petr Starý   Škoda Fabia S2000 4:41:47.2 8:48.7 4 6.Guy Wilks  Phil Pugh  Škoda Fabia S2000 4:42:23.0 9:24.5 3  7.Bruno Magalhães  Carlos Magalhães  Peugeot 207 S2000 4:42:43.9 9:45.4 2 8.Jean-Sébastien Vigion  Stéphane Prevot Peugeot 207 S2000 4:46:32.0 13:33.5 1=== Special stages ===DayStageTimeNameLengthWinnerTimeAvg. spd.Rally leader Prologue(19 Jan) SSS 18:38 Lente – Col de Gaudissart 8.83 km  Toni Gardemeister 6:54:2 76.75 km/h ''none*''Leg 1(20 Jan) SS1 11:51 Burzet – Lachamp-Raphaël 27.27 km  Mikko Hirvonen 16:01.4 102.11 km/h  Mikko Hirvonen SS2 12:59 St-Pierreville – Antraigues 45.17 km  Sébastien Ogier 30:54.2 87.70 km/h SS3 15:02 Burzet – Lachamp-Raphaël 27.27 km  Mikko Hirvonen 15:49.7 103.37 km/h SS4 16:10 St-Pierreville – Antraigues 45.17 km  Sébastien Ogier 30:45.9 88.09 km/hLeg 2(21 Jan) SS5 10:13 Labatie d'Andaure – St-Pierre sur Doux 25.30 km  Nicolas Vouilloz 17:38.5 86.05 km/h SS6 10:55 St-Bonnet-le-Froid – St-Julien-Molhesabate – St-Bonnet-le-Froid 25.67 km  Sébastien Ogier 17:19.7  88.88 km/h SS7 12:20 Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussière 21.92 km  Mikko Hirvonen 14:43.0  89.37 km/h SS8 15:28 Labatie d'Andaure – St-Pierre sur Doux 25.30 km  Juho Hänninen 16:36.8  91.37 km/h SS9 16:10 St-Bonnet-le-Froid – St-Julien-Molhesabate – St-Bonnet-le-Froid 25.67 km  Sébastien Ogier 15:51.1 97.16 km/h SS10 18:05 Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussière 21.92 km  Sébastien Ogier 15:03.0 87.39 km/hLeg 3(22 Jan) SS11 09:23 Montauban sur l'Ouvèze – Eygalayes 30.42 km  Sébastien Ogier 23:18.5 78.31 km/h SS12 19:15 Peïra-Cava – La Bollène-Vésubie 18.42 km  Sébastien Ogier 13:23.4 82.54 km/h SS13 19:48 Lantosque – Lucéram 19.13 km  Stéphane Sarrazin 14:12.9 80.75 km/h SS14 23:20 Peïra-Cava – La Bollène-Vésubie 18.42 km  Juho Hänninen 13:52.3 79.67 km/h SS15 23:53 Lantosque – Lucéram 19.13 km  Stéphane Sarrazin 14:40.2 78.24 km/h* * The super-special set the running order for the first leg with the top ten running in reverse order from where they finished.
References
External links *  The official website of the Automobile Club de Monaco*  The official website of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge