There are a lot of exciting motorsports events happening around the world every year. However, there are some races on the calendar that stand out, and fans, teams, and drivers are all looking forward to taking part of them. In other words, they're considered the greatest motorsport events in the world.

Let's narrow down these events and focus on rallying. We all know that rally drivers are a different breed of racing drivers, as they race against the clock on narrow public roads and adapt to changing weather conditions on the fly. Their ultimate test happens right at the very start of the WRC season and takes place in the mountains of the French Riviera, we are of course talking about the Monte Carlo Rally. Here are some facts about one of the oldest rallies in the world that rally drivers look forward to.

10 Dates Back To 1911

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The Monte Carlo Rally is, in fact, an older event than the famous Monaco Grand Prix, as the event was first held in 1911, some 18 years earlier than the Formula One race.

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Automobile Club de Monaco thought of hosting a rally way back in 1909 during the time of Albert I, Prince of Monaco. However, it was very different from the format we see today, as back in those days, cars set out from different locations across Europe, only to converge in Monte Carlo for the finish.

RELATED : Royal Rides: These Are The Cars That The Prince Of Monaco Owned

9 Made The Classic Mini A Legend

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Endless hairpin turns combined with the tight and twisty nature of the Monte Carlo Rally meant small and nimble cars enjoyed a huge advantage even over more powerful but bigger vehicles. That's what made the classic Mini a rallying legend.

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The original Mini was only six months old when it first entered the iconic rallying event, and just two years later, claimed overall victory in the 1964 edition of the Monte Carlo Rally. Victories in 1965 and 1967 further cemented the Mini's legacy as a giant-killing underdog in rallying.

RELATED : This Is Why You'd Want To Own An Original Mini

8 Season Opener

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As mentioned earlier, the Monte Carlo Rally is usually the first event of the World Rally Championship. That has been the case from 1973 to 2008, and from 2012 onwards.

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From 2009 to 2011 however, the event served as the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge that features naturally aspirated AWD rally cars instead of the turbocharged 1.6-liter AWDs of the WRC.

RELATED : These Are The Most Successful WRC Cars Ever

7 Unpredictable Weather

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Part of the challenge that awaits rally drivers tackling the Monte Carlo Rally is the unpredictability of weather at the mountains of the French Riviera. Because of the elevation changes on the rally stages, in some sections, the conditions could go from dry tarmac to full ice and snow, then back again to dry towards the end.

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Those conditions mean tire choice is very critical in order to win the rally, as snow tires don't work as well on dry tarmac, and the same goes for dry tires going in the snow.

6 Col De Turini

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Col De Turini is a mountain pass that goes as high as 5,272 feet above sea level, and is the most iconic stage in the Monte Carlo Rally. It has many hairpin turns and technical sections that will prove the mettle of competing rally drivers.

col de turini (uci.org)
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The stage is 19 miles long and is usually taken at nightfall by WRC drivers, with the stage earning the nickname "Night of the long knives" due to the beam of lights that cut through the dark.

5 Podium Lockouts

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Over the course of the Monte Carlo Rally's rich history, only seven teams have been able to dominate the event and achieve an outright victory. In 2003, the Citroën team probably headed the most star-studded team podium ever, as then-rising star Sebastien Loeb took the victory, while established WRC veterans and legends Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz finished second and third respectively.

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The most recent podium sweep came courtesy of Volkswagen in 2015, as Sebastien Ogier won the rally with Jari-Matti Latvala finishing second, and Andreas Mikkelsen taking third place.

4 Controversy

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Just like any other motorsport event, the Monte Carlo Rally has not been spared with controversy over the years. In 1966, the outright victory of Mini was stripped due to the use of non-dipping single filament quartz iodine bulbs in their headlamps instead of standard double filament dipping glass ones, in what Motor Sport Magazine calls as the "Monte Carlo Fiasco".

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Furthermore, in 2002, an illegal tire change in a service area intended for quick repairs cost the rookie Sebastien Loeb the WRC victory, and handed over the win to Tommi Makinen. However, it was Loeb who celebrated at the top step of the podium during the ceremonies, much to Makinen's displeasure.

3 Multiple Event Winners

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Only 11 drivers have been able to repeat their success in winning the Monte Carlo Rally. Today's record holder is Sebastien Ogier, who has won eight times in the iconic rally event.

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Ogier broke his compatriot Sebastien Loeb's record of seven victories when he had his most recent Monte win in 2021 onboard the Toyota Yaris WRC.

2 Most Successful Manufacturers

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If we were to pick a team who knows what it takes to win the Monte Carlo Rally, it has to be the legendary Lancia team, as they hold the record for having the most victories (13). Their last victory came in 1992 with the Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo courtesy of Frenchman Didier Auriol.

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Citroën fell short of breaking Lancia's record for most victories in the Monte with 10, as Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier both took victories for the French team.

1 Closest Victories

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Tactical errors and poor tire choices could make the difference between winning and losing in the Monte Carlo Rally, but sometimes, it all boils down to a final stage showdown to determine the winner.

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In 2019, Sebastien Ogier recorded the closest victory margin in the history of the Monte Carlo Rally, as he finished only 2.2 seconds quicker than Hyundai's Thierry Neuville, and undercuts the 15 seconds that split 1993 winner Didier Auriol from Francois Delecour.