Number 1 for Ogier, Solberg rather than Katsuta at Toyota: what the Monte Carlo Rally entry list reveals

Released this Monday afternoon by the Automobile Club of Monaco, the list of entrants for the Rally Monte Carlo (January 22-25) has revealed a few little secrets. The most important of these is the return of the number 1 player to... Sébastien Ogier The Gap native had not worn this number since 2022, the season following what was, before 2025, his last World Rally Championship title, and therefore exercised his right to use the number worn by Thierry Neuville last year. It's worth remembering that since 2023, Ogier has been competing with the number 17 on his doors, a reference to his birthdate (December 17th). Since Monte Carlo will be the first rally in WRC As for Jon Armstrong, we also took the opportunity to discover his new number: in homage to Lightning McQueen, the Irishman will wear number 95. As a reminder, Oliver Solberg will keep the number he wore in Estonia last year when he won, namely 99. In 2022, during his first season in Rally1, the Swede debuted number 2. Finally, Hayden Paddon has chosen to display number 20 on his doors: having left the WRC at the end of 2018, he was unaware of the era of permanent numbers introduced in 2019 and therefore had to choose his very first number of this kind.

Toyota already has a strategy

In the Constructors' Championship, it is interesting to note that Takamoto Katsuta will not score any points for Toyota at Monte Carlo. As a reminder, only three cars per team can score points for this classification, and Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans, and Oliver Solberg will therefore be tallying their results for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT1. A second team, simply named Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2, will welcome Sami Pajari to score points, as was the case in 2025. Also unsurprisingly, and although he will only be a guest driver, Grégoire Munster will be the third driver to score points for M-Sport In fact, the three teams present in Rally1 will therefore have three cars to showcase their skills, since Hyundai will be able to count on the support of Thierry Neuville, ofAdrien fourmaux and Hayden Paddon.

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