The 2006 Monte Carlo Rally (formally the 74th Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo) was the first round of the 2006 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 20 and 22 January 2006, and was won by Ford's Marcus Grönholm, his 19th win in the World Rally Championship.

Report

The first event of the season saw many changes from the previous year. The new season saw just two full manufacturer teams compete (

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and Subaru).

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

supported a semi works effort through the Kronos team.

Stobart Stobart or Stobbart is an English language, English surname, it may refer to: People * Chuck Stobart (born 1934), American footballer * Dickie Stobbart (1891-1952), Canadian footballer * Eddie Stobart (born 1929), British businessman, founded Eddi ...

increased their profile by creating a team using old Fords. OMV Peugeot Norway used the

Peugeot 307 The Peugeot 307 is a small family car produced by the French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën, under their Peugeot marque, from 2001 to 2008 in Europe, and was the successor to the Peugeot 306, which was discontinued in 2002 after being in product ...

while Skoda maintained their presence through a team sponsored by

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwide, inc ...

. On the drivers front, Ford had a new lineup consisting of two time champion

Marcus Grönholm Marcus Ulf Johan Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Ch ...

and the promising young driver

Mikko Hirvonen Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both ...

. Kronos used Citroëns twice world champion

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...

alongside Xavier Pons. Subaru retained

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rallying, rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford World Rally Team, Ford factory team in 1999. The ...

with

Stéphane Sarrazin Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin (born 2 November 1975) is a French professional racing driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and ...

and Chris Atkinson due to share the second seat depending on the surface. Stobart used a mixture of drivers alongside Matthew Wilson in his first full year. Manfred Stohl and Henning Solberg used the previously unloved Peugeot 307s. There were no places for

Markko Märtin Markko Märtin (born 10 November 1975 in Tartu) is a retired Rallying, rally driver from Estonia, who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2000 World Rally Championship season, 2000 until 2005 World Rally Championship season, 2005. Caree ...

who fired an angry broadside before the

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast ...

at the direction the sport was taking. Toni Gardemeister lost his place at Ford along with Roman Kresta, both not doing enough to impress Malcolm Wilson during

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

. François Duval didn't find a seat after his erratic 2005 season, and there was still no place available for

Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007) was a Scottish rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver and the youngest person to win the World Rally Championship ...

despite two promising performances for Skoda in 2005.

Results

Special stages

All dates and times are CET (

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time ** B ...

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Manufacturers' championship

References

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino i ...

2006

Rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Spor ...

Monte Monte may refer to: Places Argentina * Argentine Monte, an ecoregion * Monte Desert * Monte Partido, a ''partido'' in Buenos Aires Province Italy * Monte Bregagno * Monte Cassino * Montecorvino (disambiguation) * Montefalcione Portugal * Monte ...