MOTORSPORT: The full Monte for starters

The reigning and dual world champion of rallying will come up against his even more illustrious predecessor and compatriot again briefly over the next few days as a new season kicks off at the greatest rally of all.

Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb renew acquaintances and their rivalry in a Monte Carlo Rally the organisers are hailing as potentially one of the most difficult in the event's long history.

Loeb was world champion in all nine years from 2004 until 2012, when he quit full-time rallying to race in the World Touring Car Championship and sports cars. Winner of a record 78 WRC events, he is making a one-off appearance at 40 years of age to drive a Citroen DS3 again, against 31-year-old fellow Frenchman Ogier and his second-generation Volkswagen Polo R, now with a hydraulic gearbox and a paddle shift on the steering column.

There was no love lost between the pair when Ogier was Loeb's understudy at Citroen in 2011, before going off to prepare (largely in a Skoda) for VW's entry to the WRC, and now he's accustomed to being the sport's top dog (did we hear someone say frog?).

The oldest and most famous rally in the world, run under "the High Patronage of their Serene Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Monaco", it's called the Monte Carlo Rally even though almost all of its 1404km (355.5km competitive) is in France rather than the tiny, rich principality.

The 96 crews entered – 18 of them in world rally cars – will have to contend with some of the most challenging conditions of the 13-round championship (which includes Rally Australia in September).

There will be variable weather, including snow, in the mountains, some stages at night, a mixture of road surfaces and the dilemmas of five different tyre choices.

More than three-quarters of the route for this 83rd Monte has been modified.

Competitors will have four hours to shake down their cars tonight, Wednesday, Australian time, at Chateauvieux, near Ogier's home town, Gap. Immediately after tomorrow's 6.30pm ceremonial start at the Monaco casino they face two night stages before overnighting at Gap.

A new loop of three stages will be run twice on Friday before crews return to more traditional stages on Saturday as they head back towards Monaco. The Alpes Maritimes hinterland will host the final stages on Sunday, with the iconic Col de Turini the penultimate test before the closing Power Stage.

Loeb has won 'The Monte' a record seven times, while Ogier was victorious in it last year and was runner-up to his compatriot in 2013 on VW's debut with the Polo.

Loeb was third in last year's circuit-racing WTCC in a Citroen C-Elysee but said after testing the DS3 he is to drive in coming days that "it's nice to have the feeling driving a four-wheel-drive car on normal roads again".

"I'm also happy to get that special feeling back in the DS3. It all came back to me quite quickly," he said.

Loeb and Ogier have competed against each other four times in the WRC since Loeb quit full-time rallying and the score is two wins apiece. Both have underplayed the latest contest.

Loeb claimed not to be feeling any great pressure returning to the WRC for the first time in a year.

"It's not the priority to win. My ambition is to do my best," he said.

VW has won 22 of the 26 WRC rallies, and 345 of 486 stages, the past two seasons.

But Ogier, whose 315-horsepower and 75 per cent "refettled" Polo is likely to have the edge on the DS3 again, shied away from comparisons with Loeb, saying he has "nothing to prove against him".

"Monte Carlo is definitely important for me. It feels like my home rally. This year there are stages very close to my childhood home. I will be very happy to perform well," Ogier said.

His VW teammates remain Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, runner-up to him last season, and Norwegian Andreas Mikkelson, who won't get the latest Polo – which Ogier claims is "real progress" with the paddle shift – until the fifth event of the season in Portugal in May.

Citroen's regular drivers for the WRC are Northern Irishman Kris Meeke and Norwegian Mads Ostberg.

While the German and French manufacturers are the WRC big guns, South Korea's Hyundai and the M-Sport outfit fielding Fords have contenders with a chance of victory, including Monte Carlo specialist Bryan Bouffier in a Fiesta RS. Frenchman Bouffier was second in the event last year.

Hyundai's line-up is Belgian Thierry Neuville, shock winner of Rally Germany last year, and Spaniard Dani Sordo. New Zealander Hayden Paddon will join the Korean squad for the next round in Sweden.

There are no signs of any outings for Australian Chris Atkinson with Hyundai this year after 26-year-old Dutchman Kevin Abbring was named its test driver and an occasional starter in events.

In a change to the WRC formats this season, the championship leader will drive first over the route on the first two legs of rallies rather than just the first leg, with the starting order for the final leg the reverse of the overall standings after the opening two.

At 'The Monte' the order for the first two days will be based on the standings at the end of last season.

There has also been a change to the rules governing communication between the teams and their drivers and co-drivers – they are now forbidden to convey split times during special stages.