Michelin's Monte Carlo.

Poor weather before the start of the Monte Carlo Rally had left a picturesque, yet treacherous, covering of snow over the higher mountain passes - making tyre choice a crucial element of success.

Michelin's technicians were kept on their toes throughout the event to ensure they had accurate, up-to-date information from the stages. They then had to analyse this data to assist drivers when it came to choosing the ideal tyre - sometimes for stages that took place up to 2 1/2 hours after cars had left service!

With drivers having to select the ideal tyre for the traditional mix of wet and dry asphalt, slush, ice and snow, choice of rubber was as critical in the final decision as it was complex.

A new regulation limiting the number of tyres teams can nominate had been introduced for asphalt rallies in 2001 (two types of racing tyre, plus two snow tyres for the Monte Carlo). It was therefore always going to be important to provide a range that covered the full spectrum of anticipated conditions.

This notably meant having a high performance, yet polyvalent option to bridge the gap between maxi-snow and racing tyres.

In Michelins case this came in the form of their D10 tyre. For the predominately mixed conditions (clear asphalt + snow/ice), the Michelin drivers relied on the D10, a wide snow pattern but narrower than a full racing tyre, to favour performance on the treacherous snow and ice.

This very tyre would help Tommi M?kinen mount his attack on Day 2 (notably on grouped stages SS7 & 8) and keep the pressure on Colin McRae (Pirelli) at the start of Day 3 (SS12 & 13).

When M?kinen seized the lead with just three stages to go, following McRae's retirement, the Finn never looked back, "I am very happy to get my third Monte Carlo win," declared Makinen at the finish. "We had a great combination of tyre choices with Michelin, a very good car and nearly no mistakes from me. I'm looking forward to Sweden already; what a great start to the year!"

Meanwhile, Peugeot-Michelin's Didier Auriol and Gilles Panizzi were eliminated by accidents on SS3; barely an hour after World Champion Marcus Gronholm's 206 WRC was halted by the consequences of a water-pump failure.

In the Subaru camp, Richard Burns and Markko Martin suffered terminal engine problems, while Petter Solberg rolled out on SS5.

The victory was Michelin's eighth Monte Carlo triumph in ten years, and its third consecutive win in association with Tommi M?kinen and Mitsubishi.