As the FIA World Rally Championship returns to action this weekend at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the battle for the freshly-revamped WRC 2 and WRC 3 categories is set to be a thriller.

For 2020, the WRC 2 welcomes entries from factory-backed teams fielding their R5 cars, whilst WRC 3 is open to identical specification vehicles which are run by privateer teams.

Tyre choice will be key and with strong entries from Citroën, Ford and Hyundai, the battle for WRC 2 honours here in Monte-Carlo is set to be a close one.

Mads Østberg jumps back behind the wheel of a C3 R5 following a challenging campaign in 2019. Despite not competing here since 2016, the Norwegian will be eager to take home maximum points from the season-opener.

“We worked hard on the car’s development last year, with the main evolutions notably concerning its brakes, suspension and engine performance. That should give us a certain edge in 2020,” said Østberg.

Hyundai has enlisted the services of rapid youngsters Nikolay Gryazin and Ole-Christian Veiby to pilot a duo of i20s. Despite their ages, both drivers have plenty of experience of R5 machinery and will be looking to impress.

"It will be the first time we have run the car in a competitive scenario, and we are confident we can utilise our existing experience of the R5 category to bring home a good result,” explained Veiby.

Sarrazin is a Rallye Monte-Carlo expert

M-Sport Ford will also field two Fiesta R5 MkIIs. Adrien Fourmaux impressed on numerous outings last year in a previous generation Fiesta and will be one to watch this weekend. "Last year on my debut we finished second in WRC 2 and 10th overall," explained the Frenchman. "This year I have more experience and want to fight for the podium – and why not my first category victory!"

British star Rhys Yates will pilot the second Fiesta, making the move to the team after driving a privately-campaigned Skoda Fabia in 2019.

The scrap for WRC 3 honours will be equally as exciting. An impressive entry, made up of 13 R5 cars, features drivers including Nicolas Ciamin, Paolo Nobre and M-Sport Ford’s Italian challenger Pedro.

At just 24-years-old, Yohan Rossel may not be as experienced as some of his rivals. However, the youngster claimed victory in the French Tarmac series in 2019 and could well shine.

Ciamin will also drive a C3 in favour of the Volkswagen Polo that he drove on selected events in 2019. Elsewhere, Eric Camilli has experience on his side as he starts his fifth Rallye Monte-Carlo and Umberto Scandola will also be at the sharp end in his i20.

Stéphane Sarrazin is no stranger to the challenges that Rallye Monte-Carlo has to offer. The Frenchman has finished in the top-five overall here four times before and will be hoping to add a WRC 3 victory to his list of achievements.