Monte Carlo to return to 'mythical' stages in 07.

The organisers of the Rallye Monte Carlo have confirmed that the 2007 edition of the event will see the WRC return to the Ardeche region of France.

In recent years the event has taken based entirely in the south, after the FIA - the sports governing body, brought in regulations limiting events to a single service park. However the event at the Principality has been given an exemption for 2007 to develop next year's route around two service parks.

As such Valence will host the start of the event and serve as the service area for legs 1 and 2, which will see stages run in Ardeche and Haute Loire, before the service area switches back to the Monaco harbour area for the final day, where the stages will, like in 2006, run to the Col de Turini.

A statement posted on the events official website explained:

"Going through the debriefing of both the 73rd and 74th Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo's [the 2005 and 2006 editions], it appears there was a significant increase of route and neighbourhood incidents - plus a vast number of interruptions and cancellation of special stages.

"This analysis identified, as the main cause of difficulties, inadequacy between the road links and the sites of special stages. Adding to this was traffic saturation due to spectators, normal users and particularly those going and coming to and from ski stations.

"The report comes to the conclusion that the current configuration cannot guarantee the show spectators want. For these reasons, The Automobile Club de Monaco referred to the FIA World Council, on March 22 in Paris, requesting a regulation exemption for 2007, allowing us to develop the 75th Rallye Monte-Carlo around two service parks and one supplementary day for reconnaissance, enlarging the radius to help avoid the difficulties that occurred in 2006. These exemptions were unanimously accorded by the World Council."

The news may also have an affect on other events in the WRC, which could now conceivably apply for a similar exemption. This may in turn lead to a greater variety of stages and less re-runs, which have become increasingly common since the introduction of the single service park rule.