1976 Monte Carlo Rally

The 1976 Monte Carlo Rally was the 44th Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo. It was won by Sandro Munari in a Lancia Stratos, with two more Stratoses finishing second and third.

The Monte Carlo Rally is traditionally the first one on the World Rally Championship calendar, not far behind the RAC Rally which closes out the season. Ten rallies were scheduled in 1976. Lancia, who entered three Stratos (along with Bernard Darniche's private entry) were the favorites, along with Fiat who were still depending on the 124 Abarth as the new 131 was not yet ready. After a notable lack of success with the A310, Alpine-Renault's new Competition Director Gérard Larrousse opted to not enter the 1976 Monte Carlo Rally prior to merging Alpine and Gordini into Renault Sport at the end of the year, much to the dismay of local fans.^[1] The company still provided unofficial support for seven entries by the works drivers (six of them A310s and one A110) and numerous privateers also joined. Opel sent three four-valve, Group 4 Kadett GT/E and Ford sent two Escorts. Polski-Fiat sent three of their new, 1756 cc-engined 125p's (although the car was not yet officially homologated at the start of the rally) and SEAT made their first factory entry in a rally outside of Spain with two 1.8-litre 1430 Especials.^[2]

In the 1970s, all World Rally Championship entries were Production Cars (Category A). Production minimums had to be reached within 12 months, although for Group 4 manufacturers had 24 months to reach the required number. For 1976, the Group 4 minimum was lowered from 500 to 400 cars.

• Group 1: Series-production touring cars with a minimum production of 5,000; replaced by Group N in 1982.
• Group 2: Touring cars with a minimum production of 1,000; replaced by Group A in 1982.
• Group 3: GT cars with a minimum production of 1,000.
• Group 4: GT cars with a minimum production of 400 in 24 months; replaced by Group B in 1982.

As was traditional for the Monte Carlo Rally until 1997, teams were given the choice of several cities as starting points. This year's race was broken up in four major sections:

• Parcours de concentration ("Concentration Stage")

Teams were given a choice of nine cities to start from, but Lisbon and Thessaloniki were dropped, leaving seven cities.^[1] Paris was the most popular, with 76 cars choosing it as the departure point, while only four cars started from London. Fog in France and snow in Italy meant that a number of the teams from Paris and Rome did not reach the second stage.

• Parcours de classement ("Ranking Stage")

135 teams reached Monaco on Monday, 19 January, heading to San Remo for two special stages. With mostly dry roads, the powerful Lancia Stratos had an advantage, as did those drivers who had opted for "Racing" tyres. To minimize the factory teams' financial advantage, all crews were forced to choose their tyre type before starting the Ranking Stage and stick with that tyre to the end of the race - a risky decision at Monte Carlo, with very varied and unpredictable weather. Jean-Claude Andruet on the Alpine A310 took second in spite of using snow tyres, followed by the Stratoses of Björn Waldegård and Raffaele Pinto.

• Parcours commun ("Common Stage")

The main part of the event, the Common Stage took two days and stretched for 1,800 kilometres (1,118 mi), including road sections and special stages. The weather started out dry, with minimal icy patches, but soon rain and eventually snow set in. Munari briefly lost the lead to Andruet after having selected the wrong tyre but was soon back in first again. At the end of this section, Stratoses held the first three places: Munari in the lead, followed by Waldegård and Bernard Darniche.

Heavy snow at the end of the final stage pushed some late starters out of the rally, while the entire Polski-Fiat team was disqualified as their 1756 cc-engined 125p's had not yet received their homologation. All 84 teams that completed this stage were classified at the end of the rally, even if they did not complete the final, night stage.^[3]

• Parcours complémentaire ("Additional Stage")

Sixty of the 84 teams which completed the Common Stage started the final, night time stage. The weather was dry, once again favoring the more powerful cars and those who had selected Racing tyres at the beginning of the rally. The Alpine-Renault crews had bad luck, dropping out one by one, and by the end of the fourth final stage (SS18) none of the semi-official entries were still in the race. Munari seemed secure in his position, until at the penultimate stage, he finished with his gearbox stuck in third. The Lancia mechanics managed to drain the gearbox, free the gears, and reassemble the gearbox in precisely ten minutes to make the start of the final stage with no penalty. Munari achieved a record time on the final stage and Lancia occupied the three medal places, ahead of Walter Röhrl in his much less powerful Kadett GT/E.

Final standings:^[4]