[woodcote]

The 2023 World Rally Championship starts tomorrow evening with a run over the Col de Turini - a perfect opening stage for the 91st Rallye Monte-Carlo.

The official WRC+ platform remains the only way to watch all the action from every WRC stage across the 13 rallies this year. There are also previews, highlights, magazine programmes and a vast archive of rally action and documentaries. In the UK, that costs £10.99 per month - or £99 for a full 12-months. The subscription also includes live coverage of both European Rally Championship and World Rally Cross events. More details here: https://www.wrc.com/en/identity-management/info/

BT Sport is the main UK TV partner of the WRC, carrying live coverage of 4 or 5 stages per rally - including tomorrow's Col de Turini - plus 30 minutes of highlights each evening and magazine programmes throughout the year. If you already have a BT Sport subscription, the WRC coverage is an added bonus - otherwise it is £25 a month.

ITV4 and the ITVX streaming service are free-to-air and have a 60-minute highlights programme a couple of days after each rally ends - usually on the Tuesday evening. This programme remains available on ITVX for a few weeks.

Red Bull TV carries the nightly 30-minute highlights package for free via the Red Bull app.

YouTube has the official WRC channel with plenty of short previews, highlights and interviews - most of which also appear for free on the WRC website and app. There's also loads of footage uploaded to YouTube by fans on the stages - sometimes they capture the very best of the action. And then there are a few independent rally channels, such as DirtFish.

Here's a more in-depth preview of Rallye-Monte Carlo and the new season...



The full schedule for the season is...

• Monte Carlo - Tarmac - 19-22 January
  
• Sweden - Snow - 9-12 February
  
• Mexico - Gravel - 16-19 March
  
• Croatia - Tarmac - 20-23 April
  
• Portugal - Gravel - 11-14 May
  
• Italy - Gravel - 1-4 June
  
• Safari (Kenya) - Gravel - 22-25 June
  
• Estonia - Gravel - 20-23 July
  
• Finland - Gravel - 3-6 August
  
• Greece - Gravel - 7-10 September
  
• Chile - Gravel - 28 September - 1 October
  
• Central Europe (AUT, CZE, GER) - Tarmac - 26-29 October
  
• Japan - Tarmac - 16-19 November
  

There are a few double-headers in there, where a 4-week £10.99 WRC+ subscription will get you coverage of two rallies.

[Kevan]

I must be getting old, as much as I love Rally...WRC leaves me cold I'm afraid, dunno why.

[Qman]

I must be getting old, as much as I love Rally...WRC leaves me cold I'm afraid, dunno why.

Could it be that it has been 'dumbed down'?

Back in the day when we had the PROPER RAC rally, Wales, England & Scotland, day & night stages, when it used to be a real endurance rally.... and almost anyone could enter, in 1971 I worked for a local Renault dealership, the boss's son used to do the RAC one year in his Escort and the storesman used to be his 'crew' in a Transit, the following year the storeman would do the rally in his Mexico and the boss's son would look after the Tranny, good old days, now we dont even have a round of the WRC

[woodcote]

I think you're getting old 

Okay, maybe the format, promotion or coverage can seem a little sterile to some viewers, but the WRC has the very best rally drivers of their generation. I'm sure this week's Monte will provide plenty of breathtaking moments - whether it can match last year's, I dunno.

Mind you, the sights and sounds of some rear-wheel drive Escort action is still very special. Thankfully there are dozens of national events where you can still see those cars competing - with modified road cars making up a fair chunk of the entry. One example is the Brands Hatch Winter Stages this Saturday:  https://www.facebook.com/BrandsHatchWinterStages/  Personally, what gets me going are the '90s F2 kit cars - that's what I watched up-close when I was lucky enough to regularly attend rallies. Many of them still run in French national events.

And why no Rally GB? There was a good article on the DirtFish website last autumn, with Elfyn Evans asking the question and Hugh Chambers from Motorsport UK providing some answers:  https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/evans-que...wrc-event/

[Kevan]

Nowt to do with age, Bernie nailed it 

[woodcote]

These are the eighteen special stages to look forward to over the next four days, starting with two night-time stages this evening...



If watching on BT Sport, the five designated 'TV Live' stages are:

• SS1 - Thursday 19:00 GMT
  
• SS10 - Saturday 09:00 GMT
  
• SS13 - Saturday 15:00 GMT
  
• SS16 - Sunday 08:00 GMT
  
• SS18 - Sunday 11:00 GMT
  

Stages 1, 16 & 18 all go over the Col de Turini.

The quick-fire shakedown stage for the Rally1 drivers on Thursday is usually streamed live on YouTube. You can catch today's shakedown, introducing the new liveries and driver line-ups here...



The live coverage starts at 4 minutes.