MOTORSPORT: Now for 'The Monte'

January is rallying's month in the spotlight.

Barely has the Dakar ended in South America than 'The Monte' looms in Monaco and the French Alps. The tarmac rally throws ice and snow at the competing crews, often at short notice, and further complicated by almost countless hairpin bends.

First staged in 1911, the event starting on Thursday will be the 84th running of the Rallye Monte Carlo. The opening round of the World Rally Championship sees few changes in the cars this year, ahead of new regulations for 2017 that will bring Toyota back to the sport.

Citroen is skipping this season to prepare for the next, although Kris Meeke – the Northern Irishman the French company has contracted for the next three years – will do some events, including 'The Monte', piloting a DS3 for an Abu Dhabi team.

Hyundai has a 'New Generation' but little different i20 for its third year in the WRC and will field two of this model immediately for Belgian Thierry Neuville and Spaniard Dani Sordo, while New Zealander Hayden Paddon will make his 'Monte' debut in the old-generation car but have a new one for Rally Sweden next month.

The M-Sport Ford squad has a new driver line-up – Norwegian Mads Ostberg and French rookie Eric Camilli in the team's Ecoboost-powered Fiesta RSs.

Hot favourite again though is Volkswagen with its three Polo Rs slightly updated – essentially a stronger front to the chassis – after a hat-trick of manufacturer and driver world titles.

It retains its three drivers who between them won all but one round last year – France's triple world champion Sebastien Ogier, Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala and Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen.

German Jost Capito is still VW's team director until a replacement is appointed, freeing him to take charge of Formula 1 team McLaren.

Estonian ex-M-Sport driver Ott Tanak is now backed by tyre maker DMACK in a Fiesta RS, while others in similar machinery on the Monte will be Prada fashion heir, Italian Lorenzo Bertelli, France's 2011 winner of the event Bryan Bouffier and Polish ex-F1 star Robert Kubica, for whom it may be the last rally because of lack of money.

The second-tier WRC2 will welcome new Skoda Fabia and upgraded Ford Fiesta R5 models – one of the latter driven by Brit Elfyn Evans.

After the ceremonial start at Monaco's casino, the Monte heads straight into two night stages in France, with the overnight service point at Gap – Ogier's hometown.

On Friday the 15 world rally cars and 75 in other classes tackle three stages further north, each twice.

Saturday is the longest day of the 377.59km competition with several classic stages, including the Sisteron-Thoard and another of 51.55km.

Sunday includes two runs over the Col de l'Orme-St Laurent, which also forms the closing Power Stage, with a new version of the famous Col de Turini in between.

"The Rallye Monte Carlo is often exactly what Monaco is renowned for – a gamble," says VW boss Capito.

"The unsettled weather makes tyre selection a lottery.

"On the one hand you need the driver and co-driver to co-operate perfectly.

"On the other you also need the ice 'spies', weather crew and service team to work in harmony."

The ice 'spies' drive the route before the start of the stages and pass information to the co-drivers, who adapt their pace notes accordingly.

Drivers have 80 tyres at their disposal – 20 soft and 24 super-soft, as well as 12 winter tyres without studs and 24 with – but are allowed to use a maximum 39 during the rally. As well as the four wheels on the car, two spare tyres may be carried in the boot.

Tyre combinations can be unusual, perhaps even a couple studded and the others dry-weather.

Ogier has won the Monte the past two years and said he "cannot imagine a better rally with which to start the new season".

"For me it is the most important rally of the year," Ogier said.

"The key factor is tyre selection.

"We drivers are very dependent on our ice 'spies'.

"It is all about interpreting the weather conditions correctly and understanding the unique weather in the Alps [which can change dramatically in a minute]."

Unlike the French drivers, Ogier's Norwegian teamate Mikkelsen admits the Monte is "not one of my favourite rallies".

Mikkelsen has a new co-driver this season – his countryman Anders Jaeger, while his previous sidekick Ola Floene has joined Ostberg at M-Sport – 12 years after that Norweigian pair last sat alongside each other.

Ostberg, fourth in a Citroen behind the VW trio on last year's Monte, said the event was "one of the classics … a fantastic rally".

"The amount of challenges that we have to face over the course of it is unbelievable," Ostberg said.

"You can never learn this event – it's different every time you're there."

The WRC expands to 14 rounds this year, with Rally Australia at NSW's Coffs Harbour the finale on November 17-20.

The new event is in China in September, filling the slot occupied since 2011 by Australia.

This year's will be the 25th Rally Australia, although the first in 1988 was a non-championship trial event to prove the country could host a WRC round.

Wayne Kenny, already the senior executive at the rally's headquarters, now takes on the extra role of clerk of course, succeeding Adrian Stafford and leading 1500 staff and volunteer officials.

Stafford , acclaimed by the governing Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as its outstanding official in 2014, becomes the rally's sporting director, liaising with WRC teams and involved in the development of the course and the event itinerary.