Monte Carlo Rally 2019

Year after year we take a space in the car park of Gap’s But, which is far closer than the official media car park without actually supporting the store. Unfortunately they sell household furniture, washing machines and the like, none of which can be taken as hand baggage on the flight home, so we can’t really support them. But... thanks for the space. (See what we did there?)

There’s no shortage of talk of gravel and ice-note crews on this event, so we thought we’d take a moment to go through exactly what it is they do.

The priority entries (that’s the factory drivers and the WRC2 Pro crews) are permitted an ice note car each. Stephen Whitford and Derek Brannigan do the job for Kris Meeke and Seb Marshall.

The ice note crews are allowed through the stages an hour before the stage goes live, but there’s always a bit of jockeying for position – they all want to go in as late as possible to gain the most accurate and up-to-date weather information.

When they get into the stage, Brannigan is equipped with a photocopy of Marshall’s notes. In simple terms, they drive the stage in Meeke’s Subaru WRX recce car, and mark where the ice has formed overnight or, on the afternoon run, melted during the day. Nothing’s that simple.

When he’s not reading the notes, Brannigan can usually be found at the photocopier.

“I make four copies of the notes,” he says. “On the first run through I’ll make the changes to the notes in red pen. Once we’re through that stage and before the second run at the same stage I write those amendments into a second copy of the notes, this time using a green pen.

"On the second pass of the stage, if the ice has gone that green word is crossed out with a red pen – that means the red writing is always the most current.”

Much of the time that information regarding the evolution of the road is passed from Brannigan to Marshall via the mobile telephone – but on some stages the organisers provide a running service that allows the edited notes to be delivered in person.

Brannigan continues: “The organisers provide one car to take everybody’s notes. This is great in a place where the mobile phone connection’s not great, but what you lose is the personal touch. Basically we’re painting a picture of what the road’s like for Kris and Seb. Yes we’ll give them the precise details of exactly which corner has changed and how, but there’s also a broader view which you don’t get to give when you use the runner.”

A relationship of absolute trust is required between the two crews – and the ability to get out of bed early. Whitford’s Friday began hours before dawn and an alarm starting with a four.

“It’s pretty stressful at times,” he says. “You get these people who come up to you and say how lucky we are to drive through all the stages, but it’s intense – every year I say it’s going to be the last…”

SS5 is going to be delayed too - starting at 11:56 local time instead of 11:37. Again, it's due to a high number of spectators.