Host country Monaco Finish location Monte Carlo Stage surface Tarmac | Start location Various cities Stages 18 (420 km; 260 mi) | |
Dates run January 19, 1973 – January 29, 1973 | ||
The 1973 Monte Carlo Rally was the 42nd running of the Monte Carlo Rally, one of the world's oldest and most well-known automobile rallies. Run in late January and hosted in the principality of Monaco, the 1973 rally was notable for being the first rally on the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) new World Rally Championship (WRC) inaugural season, making it the first ever WRC event to be held.
At this time, the Monte-Carlo rally was structured as a concentration rally, with teams beginning competition in some nine different cities, with the first objective of the rally being to reach Monte Carlo, followed by two legs of competitive special stages around Monaco and southeastern France. Traditionally run on tarmac roads commonly covered in snow and ice, especially at higher altitudes, bad weather did force cancellation of two special stages in 1973.
In 1973, and for several years afterward, only manufacturers were given points for finishes in WRC events. Alpine Renault dominated the event, a portent of their further success during the season with their Alpine-Renault A110 1800 car. They would take all three podium positions and five of the top six places.