WRC stars will light up one of world motorsport’s most famous venues when Monza Rally Show gets underway on Friday afternoon (6 December).

Hyundai men Dani Sordo, Craig Breen and Andreas Mikkelsen all drive i20 R5s at the Italian circuit event, but the Korean firm’s World Rally Championship-conquering i20 World Rally Car is also set to make a guest appearance.

The event, which is packed with more than 60 R5 entries, is the only time in the season when the venue’s famous banked corners are used in competition.

Starting on Friday afternoon, the opening stage at the track north of Milan is run in daylight before crews are plunged into northern Italian winter darkness for SS2.

“It’s an amazing event,” said Breen. “I did it a couple of years ago and there’s some number of people come out to watch and the atmosphere’s just fantastic. It’s great to be going there again, especially with so much support for the Hyundai team.

The main competition is completed on Sunday lunchtime, with the afternoon taken up by the Masters Show, a shootout between the fastest drivers in each class.

Briton Rhys Yates made his debut in a World Rally Car at last year’s event and succeeded in getting to the Masters Show. The WRC 2 regular will be back in Italy this week, driving an i20 R5 and aiming at more Sunday afternoon competition.

Yates will be joined in the car by Catie Munnings, Red Bull-backed driver turned co-driver for this weekend.

“The circuit’s one of the most historic in the whole of motorsport, so the chance to compete there’s really special. And it’s really different from what we normally do. Because it’s on the circuit as well as the infield areas and pit lane, you can have quite a few cars on the stage at once,” he said.

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