The three-time ERC event winners served as the safety note crew for Rossel and Arnaud Dunand, who won the Rally2 section in a PH Sport Citroën C3 for what was Rossel’s third consecutive category victory on the traditional FIA World Rally Championship season opener.
Bonato and Boulloud drove through each stage in advance of the competing crews and provided crucial updates to Rossel and Dunand on the road and weather conditions.
“It was not the driver that won this weekend, it was the co-driver, the team, the strategy and the tyre choice,” Rossel (pictured below, right) said afterwards.
Bonato, who has outlined his desire to tackle more ERC events in 2025, was not the only driver with ERC experience forming part of a safety note crew during Rallye Monte-Carlo. Former Junior ERC champions Stéphane Lefebvre and Ken Torn supported event winner Sébastien Ogier and fifth-place finisher Ott Tänak respectively.
Juho Hänninen, the 2012 ERC champion, formed part of Takamoto Katsuta’s crew with 2014 ERC title-winning co-driver Janne Ferm working alongside ERC stage winner Juuso Nordgren for Kalle Rovanperä, who finished fourth.
The 42nd Rally Sierra Morena - Córdoba Patrimonio de la Humanidad in Andalusia, Spain, opens the 2025 ERC season from 4 - 6 April.