Over the decades, the infamous start to the World Rally Championship season has claimed more than a few victims. The Monte Carlo Rally's mixed surface can be extremely challenging to master, and that was made abundantly clear early in the 2022 event with this frightening crash by driver Adrien Fourmaux and co-driver Alexandre Coria. Amazingly, they walked away.
The crash occurred on the third stage of the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally back on January 21, and the severity of accident is capturing attention across all motorsport and motoring genres. The in-car footage featured above shows the viciousness of the flips and impact, but the outside perspective shared here in a Facebook post below is arguably the real jaw-dropper in this wild ride.
Suffice it to say, this crash ended the event for Fourmaux and Coria. Our colleagues at Motorsport.com report that Fourmaux misjudged a medium-speed left-hand turn on the third stage, causing the car to hit a rock face. The initial hit caused their Ford Puma Rally1 car to flip, but momentum carried it across the road where it tumbled over the guardrail and continued tumbling down a steep embankment. It finally came to rest approximately 100 feet down from the road.
For 2022, WRC cars aren't technically World Rally Cars in the traditional sense. Now called Rally1, the top-tier cars feature hybrid power and utilize a new space frame. That new frame with its safety cell for occupants apparently passed with flying colors, considering Fourmax and Coria walked away from this crash without injury.
Driving for M-Sport with support from Ford, it was a tough break for the team and the debut of the new Puma, but M-Sport would ultimately win the day thanks to legendary WRC driver Sebastian Loeb. The 47-year-old WRC veteran returned for a one-off drive in an M-Sport Puma and claimed the overall win. It was his 80th rally victory.
