The FORUM8 ACI Rally Monza is about to start, for the second year running, the final challenge of the
FIA World Rally Championship. Just under twelve months after its debut in the most important road
series, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza is ready to welcome back WRC cars in their hunt for the world
titles. The Automobile Club d’Italia, that is the organizing ASN through ACI Sport, with SIAS, AC Milano and the support of Regione Lombardia, will have the chance to celebrate again the double appointment in Italy after the Rally Italia Sardegna earlier in the year. This is going to be the 12th round of the calendar and will get underway from Thursday, November 18th to Sunday, November 21st, for a total of 253,18 competitive Kms split in 16 tests. Half of the stages will take place within the circuit, the others on the roads in the province of Bergamo for a total liaison of 679,62 km that will decide the Drivers and Manufacturers overall titles and the WRC3 Drivers title.

WORLD DUELS | The official crews fighting for the title stand out from the 82 entered ones. Two are
the main battles: Ogier vs Evans and Toyota vs Hyundai. These are the same protagonists that
challenged each other in Monza a year ago. This time around, the French Sebastien Ogier is leading the classification at 204 points and with 4 wins in the bag. The reigning Champion will share the Toyota Yaris WRC with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia, who is at his last rally before retiring from competitions.Ogier just needs 13 points to be the Champ again, therefore P4 to P6 plus some Power Stage points might be enough to earn him the eighth world title. The Brit Elfyn Evans and his co-driver Martin Scott can only aim to the win in another Yaris WRC. The challenge in the Manufacturers championship is quite well defined too. The Japanese Toyota Gazoo Racing just needs one Yaris at the end to celebrate the title. The Korean Hyundai Shell Mobis to keep the title should get P1 and P2 both in the rally and Power Stage, and would need the retirement of all the three Toyotas.

THE WRC CARS | The Yaris WRC lot will be completed by the Finn Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen, the Japanese Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston. Four Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC will also be present. These will be led by the Belgian Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, that are currently third in the classification, the others will be managed by the Spanish driver Dani Sordo and Candido Carrera, the Finn Teemu Suninen, who will debut in the i20 with Mikko Markkula, and the Swede Oliver Solberg with Elliott Edmondson. Two Ford M-Sport cars will be present. The first Fiesta WRC will be driven by the Brit Gus Greensmith and co-driver Jonas Andersson, the second by the French Adrien Fourmaux with Alexandre Coria at the notes. The FORUM8 ACI Rally Monza will be the last presence of the WRC Plus cars in the FIA WRC.

WRC2 AND WRC3 | The challenge will not just include World Rally Cars, as several strong drivers will
compete in WRC2 and WRC3 representing 19 countries. Among these, 57 drivers are Italian and will
mainly compete in WRC2. The Norwegian of Toksport Andreas Mikkelsen will honour the title already
secured in the Skoda Fabia Evo, but he will have to face again the tough competition of the Bolivian
Marco Bulacia, the Russian Alexey Gryazin, both on Skoda and the Finn Jari Huttunen on Ford Fiesta.
Enrico Brazzoli will share the Fabia with his co-driver Manuel Fenoli. An interesting duel will take place
in WRC3, as the Pole Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda Fabia) and the French Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3) are equal on points and this closing rally will define the winner.

THE ITALIAN SQUAD | Two of the top drivers of the Sparco Italian Rally Championship will be present in two Hyundai i20 N Rally2 ran by Hyundai Motorsport: 2020 Champion Andrea Crugnola with Pietro Ometto, and Stefano Albertini, who has won the Italian Asphalt Trophy this year too, as always with Danilo Fappani at the notes at the debut on the Korean car. Another driver of the Sparco Italian Rally Championship will be present. The recently crowned Best Italian Under 25 on Asphalt, Damiano De Tommaso and Giorgia Ascalone will be at the first exit of the season in a Skoda car.

A lot of strong pairings will also be present like Alessandro Perico and Piero Longhi, on Skoda, the
experienced Mauro Miele (Skoda) and Giacomo Ogliari, the latter is the second for number of
participation in the history of the Rally of Monza and this time will compete in a Citroen car. The young Enrico Oldrati has been competing in the Italian Gravel Trophy this year and will be at the home rally in a Skoda Rally 2 car. The two ladies Rachele Somaschini (C3) and Patrizia Perosino (Fabia) will be present too.

THE LAST ROUND OF THE YARIS CUP | The FORUM8 ACI Rally Monza will also be the closing round of the GR Yaris Rally Cup. The single-make trophy by Toyota is at its fifth round of the season after the events in the highest national series and the classification calls for an exciting battle also in this case. A total of 12 pairings will compete in the 4WD GR Yaris cars and three of these, Alessandro Ciardi, Marco Gianesini and Angelo “Pucci” Grossi will aim to the final win of the Trophy.

THE PROGRAM, SPECTATORS AND TV | The temperature at the “Temple of Speed” will start raising up on Thursday with the shakedown Pzero at local 18.01 on a 4,09 km section defined within the Circuit of Monza. Seven stages are scheduled for Friday with an early double loop on the external tests “Gerosa” (11,96 km) and “Costa Valle Imagna” (22,11 km) followed by the ones in the Circuit: two passes on the “Cinturato” (14,49 km) and one on the “Grand Prix” (10,29 km). Six more stages on Saturday will be on the two tests in the province of Bergamo: “San Fermo” (14,80 km) and the longest of the rally “Selvino” (24,95 km), before heading back to the circuit for two loops of the “Sottozero” test (14,39 km). Three final stages will be on Sunday: a repeat of the “Grand Prix” will introduce to the double loop of the “Serraglio” (14,62 km), that will be the Wolf Power Stage in the second pass. The final podium will be at 14.00.

All the racing action will be appreciable by the fans that this time are allowed in presence. The gates
of the Circuit of Monza will finally be open and will welcome spectators having tickets and Green Pass
on the grand stands and Service Park with a maximum allowance of 75% of the total capacity as
defined by the present regulations. Several initiatives have been devised within the Pirelli Rally Village
in the Garden Area. Spectators will be allowed also on the roads outside the Circuit. These are invited
by FIA and by the organizers to duly follow the safety instructions summarized in the video available at https://youtu.be/JaHznsdWpgs. Five tests will be covered live and free of charge by Raisport,
including the closing PW stage. Specials will highlight the event on the News by Mediaset and ACI SportTV. The live streaming official platform of the World Rally Championship WRC+ will cover the entire event as always.