The Observer

The 2007 World Rally Championship brings you its most famous, most traditional event: the fabulous Monte Carlo Rally - live from, er, Valence.

It wouldn't have worked as a sales pitch, would it? Apologies for my ignorance of French provincial towns, but I'd never heard of Valence until this week. It's 250 miles north of Monte Carlo - not exactly just up the road, then. But after last weekend it's certainly on my motorsport map now.

Sadly, I didn't travel south for the WRC season opener. I kept up to pace with progress via autosport.com and its handy text service over the weekend, but it soon became clear that I was missing one hell of a spectacle.

I didn't even catch it on TV, I'm afraid. I sat down early on Sunday evening, remembering to flick through all the shopping channels to find the relative backwater of ITV4 - and then my four-year-old daughter came in. Bedtime in the Smith household means chill-out time courtesy of the good old BBC.

"Daddy, what's this," asked Scarlett. "It's the Monte Carlo Rally, and the cars drive on exciting roads in the mountains instead of round race tracks," I explained. "I like it... but can I watch CBeebies now?" I could have put my foot down, but it would have caused havoc.

So instead, I got the full low-down via Autosport's rally editor David Evans. Typically, he was bubbling with enthusiasm, waxing lyrical about the welcome return of night stages to the WRC.

Andreas Aigner, Klaus Wicha, Mitsubishi © LAT

The rally might have confused many by running out of a town located in France rather than Monte Carlo, but the Automobile Club de Monaco had still kept true to tradition.

Along with the night stages on Thursday evening, the club reintroduced classic roads not used in the event since the late 1980s. Former Monte winner Ari Vatanen was one of the onlookers to voice his approval.

Then to cap the event, the drivers and teams trailed south for a two-minute blast around part of the Monaco Grand Prix track, guaranteeing at least some link to Monte Carlo. It was a long way to go for so little action, and there were plenty of complaints - but not once the superspecial had actually been run.

Everyone raved about the chance to put on a show when they got back to Valence. It had been the first time in 10 years that the rally cars had run on the famous Grand Prix roads.

So the Monte was a huge success then, I said to David. Not according to David Richards, he explained. The commercial boss of the WRC was angered by the ACM's decision to base the rally in a Valence car park, comparing the atmosphere to a traditional British car-boot sale rather than a traditional motorsport classic.

You could see his point - until you consider the large, enthusiastic crowds that turned out to watch the glorious return of Sebastien Loeb and Citroen.

And from a sporting point of view (I'm naive in considering this the priority), the 2007 Monte was a real challenge. Double world champion Marcus Gronholm openly admitted he didn't enjoy the night stages and lost a big chunk of time to Loeb right at the very start. This was proper rallying.

The move to Valence was made for sound, practical reasons following the problems encountered at last year's event when the first morning's stages were cancelled because of turmoil on narrow access roads. The ACM couldn't afford to let that happen again.

But they were still unlucky this year. Apparently, eight out of 10 times the classic stages used last weekend are covered in snow in January. Not this year, though.

A Monte without snow just isn't quite right. As it was, the stages were dry and super-fast - too much so according to most opinions. But what can you do about the weather, especially as the effects of global warming are felt more and more around the world?

One thing that is in the hands of the ACM is to bring back the most classic Monte stage of them all. The return of the Col de Turini would really tap into the event's roots - snow or no snow.

Dani Sordo and Marc Marti, Citroen © LAT

So I think it's fair to say the response to this year's Monte was mixed. Plenty to be positive about, problems from a commercial point of view, good things that can still be improved. The superspecial, for example, doesn't have to count for competitive times according to some of the drivers. It should just be for fun, to create a show, they say. Seems to be a good point.

But what about the competition on Monte? What have we learnt about the state of the WRC? Are we in for a classic year? Let's face it, rallying needs the shot in the arm that a great world title duel would deliver.

Well, it was predictable that the factory Citroen team should return to the series with their all-new C4 and come away with a win. Predictable because they are so good at this sport - as is Sebastien Loeb.

Dani Sordo is not half bad either, on the evidence of his debut in a factory car. The team one-two was emphatic.

But reigning constructors' champions Ford do not appear to be downhearted. Marcus Gronholm might have struggled in the darkness and was later hobbled by a gearbox problem, but he still took good points with third place. And he is confident that he can turn the tables when the championship heads to Sweden next month.

I'll be there to see firsthand whether Gronholm's optimism can be turned into the reality of a C4 defeat - and I'm praying for snow.

Whatever, at least this time my enjoyment of the WRC won't be defeated by a four-year-old and her love of the Fimbles. Can't wait.