This January, Romain Dumas shows his versatile talents! Following on the Dakar with the Ecurie du Coeur, and before taking part in the first shakedowns with Porsche Team – anticipating on his official programme in the World Endurance Championship – the French driver is on the starting grid of the Rally Monte Carlo, with his own squad and a Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4,0L that he developed himself. For this first round of the FIA R-GT, Romain will compete under colours of a car that has marked Monte-Carlo’s history: namely Björn Waldegard and Lars Helmer’s Porsche 911 S which in 1970 clinched one of Zuffenhausen’s four successes.

“Great champion pays a humble tribute”

It’s not time to rest yet for Romain Dumas who goes from Dakar to Monte-Carlo, from sand dunes to asphalt, or perhaps even snow. It’s with these objectives in mind that he had led many practice sessions in December, both in Le Gard and Le Jura, under different conditions. “We’ve prepared ourselves very well, but I don’t think that you really ever are ready for Monte-Carlo” says the official Porsche driver. “It’s such an uncommon rally! I’ll probably need some time to find the right pace again, the objective being to pick up momentum progressively and to improve stage after stage. It’s a very important rally to me and I hope to shine in the R-GT class which will probably hold some great fights. I’m looking forward to discovering this legendary competition which is full of pitfalls.”

The Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4,0L is a unique model developed by RD Limited. After having taken his first steps in the Rallye France-Alsace, and participated in the Tour de Corse, Romain Dumas’s car has benefited from a new development phase. It will run under No.23 in Monte-Carlo and will display a unique graphic design inspired by the Porsche 911 S – victorious in 1970 with Björn Waldegard at the wheel. “I’m one of the strong advocates of R-GT in rally and I’m happy to participate in Monte-Carlo competition with a Porsche” he says. “The team and I had already thought about it throughout these last couple of years and we’d had the idea of a nod to one of Porsche’s four wins. Porsche achieved three historic wins in 1970 and Björn Waldegard made history when becoming the first World Rally Champion and winning the Monte-Carlo rally twice with Porsche. He passed away last Summer and we wished for a humble tribute to the great champion he was. We must live up to what I think is a responsibility. This is not insignificant: a Porsche of that colour can only remind of Monte-Carlo and of such a successful performance. I hope that will be the case in R-GT.”

Boss and driver Romain Dumas will be competing with regular co-driver Deniw Giraudet. Romain’s parents, his father Maurice Dumas who has participated in the Rally Monte Carlo before, and mother Geneviève, will be part of the safety crew. The duo regularly competes in VHC, with many successes on board of the Porsche 911 SC3,0l also prepared by RD Limited.