Keeping it regular

E-Rally is gaining traction as a more relevant form of motorsport.

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A British Isles crew kept up the best traditions of entente cordiale on the recent FIA e-Rallye Monte-Carlo as they twirled a pretty, French blue Alpine A290 GTS around some of the world's most famous rally stages. Richard Crozier and co-driver Craig Parry joined forces for the first time to dive into the oldest, most prestigious and best-established eco rally, and they emerged with tired smiles, a clutch full of memories and a taste for more.

Remarkably, this was the 30th edition of Monte Carlo's e-Rally, the jewel of the FIA's Bridgestone Eco Rally Cup. A bumper 62 entries lined up, representing 18 nations and 17 car marques, competing over 231km of regularity stages and a total distance of 1078km. Crozier is an 18-year rally veteran and clerk of the course for Britain's round of the series, held in Dundee in July, but Parry is a relative newcomer to motorsport. By day, he's an engineering geologist for AtkinsRéalis, a partner of the Alpine Formula 1 team. It was the link that helped lever the duo into a factory-supported, standard, road-going A290, in Alpine's 70th anniversary year. For Crozier, the e-Monte offered a fact-finding mission to carry lessons back to his event in Dundee, and for both it also represented a marked step up in competition, in a form of motorsport centred on average rather than outright speed. It's a skillset that requires a different kind of precision.