Monte Carlo Rally 2006: Finish / PCWRC - Summary
An excellent drive by Fumio Nutahara (J, Mitsubishi) and co-driver Daniel Barritt (GB) rewarded the duo victory on Rallye Monte Carlo, the opening round of the 2006 FIA Production car World Rally Championship, and recorded the first time Yokohama has won a round of PCWRC in Monte Carlo. Just behind in second was David Higgins (GB, Mitsubishi) followed by Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT, Subaru) in third.
Following issues on the opening group of stages with heavy spectator traffic, OMV-backed Julien Popov (BG, Mitsubishi) started brilliantly by winning stages four and five, leading fellow PCWRC competitors Higgins, Nutahara and Al-Attiyah. But on SS6 the two-time Bulgarian champion, on his first WRC event, caught up with Stefano Marrini (I, Mitsubishi), struggled to overtake on such a narrow road and eventually stalled the engine. Only a few kilometres before the end of the stage he then lost his brakes, making way for Nutahara to adopt the lead.

The Japanese Mitsubishi driver set a time almost 40 seconds faster than any of his fellow competitors at the end of leg one but Al-Attiyah, fresh from the ‘Dakar desert`, stepped up his pace on leg two to steal the lead from Nutahara. His lead was short lived however as an accident on stage nine, where he slid heavily into a bridge at the flying finish, destroyed the front right suspension of his Impreza. Fast and furious repairs on the car amazingly saw Al-Attiyah leave service penalty-free, but Nutahara jumped back into the lead which he successfully defended until the end.

Higgins had a more difficult event as the 2004 British Rally Champion struggled with pace notes on occasion. Pairing up with co-driver Ross Butler for the season, this is their first rally together and Butler`s first at top level, but the duo overcame difficulties and a solid drive, despite differential problems on the final day, saw the British pair eventually scoop up a welcomed second place.

Al-Attiyah started leg three challenging Nutahara`s lead but with victory firmly in his sights, another accident on SS15 resulted in engine damage, preventing the crew from continuing. With the FIA WRC sporting regulations now revised, Al-Attiyah can still be included in the overall classification as long as he returns the car to the finish. As a result, the Qatari driver, also on his debut outing in Monte Carlo, scores points for third place.

A bad tyre choice for Italian competitor Marrini prevented him setting any competitive times on the afternoon`s group of stages on leg one, and diminishing effectiveness of the brakes for the last 10km of the final stage of the day saw him struggle to reach service. But once fixed he continued steadily throughout the event and a trouble-free run for the final two days rewarded him five points for fourth.

Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN, Subaru) didn`t start the season well as the fuel feeder pipe came loose forcing him to stop and return to service before he had even started the rally. Easily fixed by team technicians, the Finnish driver restarted leg two but the same problem recurred so the youngest PCWRC competitor didn`t get to drive competitively until the final day when he proceeded to win all the stages. Popov left the morning`s service on the second day two minutes late after repairs overran following a gearbox change the night before and as a result, the Bulgarian sibling duo struggled with brakes that had not been fully bled and dropped back to third. Unfortunately, an icy road and darkening conditions caused Popov crashed off the road down the mountainside on the final stage of leg two into retirement, requiring a helicopter to recover the vehicle.

Fumio Nutahara, Mitsubishi Lancer EvoIX
“I have been waiting for a win for a long time and finally it has come today! There are three new things for me: I have a new co-driver, Daniel Barritt, and he has been fantastic; we have a new car – the evolution IX – which has a much better engine and this is the first time that Yokohama tyres have ever won in Monte Carlo. It`s fantastic.”

David Higgins, Mitsubishi Lancer EvoVII
“ It`s been quite a difficult rally but even if this had been a perfect rally I would be happy with second place and it`s a good way to start the season. Once things started to go wrong on leg two everything seemed to snowball but today everything has been brilliant. I would like to have been able to take more risks but I came here hoping for a podium finish and it`s something to build on for the rest of the season. And I`m even happier because eight points is more that my brother Mark managed to get it two years in the PCWRC!”

Nasser Al-Attiyah, Subaru Impreza WRX STi spec C
“Everything felt very good today – we made a good tyre choice and pushed hard but on the last 10km of the last stage, coming down from the Col, spectators had thrown ice and snow on the road and coming off dry asphalt to this simply made us slide out of control and we hit a rock and damaged the engine. It`s not the way I wanted to finish the rally but I`m so happy with our performance here as I have no experience in Monte Carlo and very little on Tarmac so third is a great result for me.”

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