Contested over fifteen stages at a length of 328.54 kilometres (204.15 miles), Sébastien Loeb won the race for the Citroën Total World Rally Team.

Controversially, the 2007 Monte Carlo Rally was no longer based in Monaco and localities nearby, where it had been held in recent years.

With Atkinson and Hirvonen in fourth and fifth place, Petter Solberg, Toni Gardemeister and Jan Kopecký were the other points finishers.

[2] With pressure from the president of Fédération Française du Sport Automobile and being beset with criticism for running a chaotic route in the 2006 Monte Carlo Rally,[3] Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM), the rally organisers, chose to move 2007's race away from Monte Carlo and the roads around Alpes-Maritimes and other departments within the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

[4] Instead, the rally HQ was set up in Valence, Drôme,[5] almost 400 km (250 mi) away from Monte Carlo,[6] with most stages being held in Ardèche.

Only Manfred Stohl, driving for OMV-Kronos Citroën World Rally Team, was familiar with these roads, as he had competed on them in the late 1990s.

[4][8] Although the 25,000 spectators seemed pleased that the rally had returned to the region, the drivers, team bosses and Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; WRC's governing body) were less enthusiastic.

[10] The drivers hoped that with the rally taking place on higher altitudes, wintery conditions and burle (a freezing wind blowing from the north) would produce ice and snow on the ground, making for a more exciting event; however, except for some rain on Thursday evening it never came to fruition and the prevailing weather was clear and dry.

[3][13] It was also badly located and poorly run,[9] and WRC's commercial director David Richards said that the service area was "like a car boot sale".

Added to the fact that the cars were equipped with unfamiliar BF Goodrich tyres after Pirelli decided not to supply any teams in 2007,[4] and they were hoping that Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson could just earn some points from the race.

[1][3] Forty-nine crews registered to compete in the rally,[18] Of the top-tier drivers entered, Jean-Marie Cuoq was the only WRC rookie, and Chris Atkinson, Henning Solberg, and Matthew Wilson had driven at Monte Carlo only once before, all in 2006.

Four months earlier he had broken his left shoulder in a mountain-biking accident, and there was a chance he might not even compete in the first part of the season.

"[1] Earlier in the day, the crews had driven a shakedown stage in Mauves; however, due to a large number of fans and spectators along the route the shakedown was stopped early,[1] and some crews including Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena were forced to carry out last-minute testing and necessary changes to their cars on the main roads back to Valence.

Privateers François Duval driving a Škoda Fabia WRC, and Angelo Villa in a Fiat Punto failed to start the event.

[29] His teammate Petter Solberg spoke of the challenges facing him: "[In the dark] everything gets a little bit more narrow and you always tend to be careful with how you turn in and keep the speed up in the corners, but obviously you have to listen to the pacenotes, that is absolutely crucial thing, 100%.

[3][7] On Stage 2, a 17.88 km (11.11 mi) run from La Cime du Mas to Col de Gaudissart, Loeb held on to the lead, completing it in 9m 31.2s.

Henning Solberg and Cato Menkelud, driving a 2006-spec Focus RS WRC for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team were the first crew to take to the still-damp roads, and they set a time of 32m 52.9s.

[37] Their teammates Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen set a good time on the stage when they finished in fifth place, as did OMV-Kronos's Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor in sixth.

[3][7] At the end of Stage 3, the podium positions were unchanged, but the time difference between Loeb and Sordo had decreased to seven seconds, although the gap between first place and fourth was over a minute.

[3][7] Petter Solberg had dropped out of contention for points, in ninth place overall, eighth being taken by Jan Kopecký in a privately entered Škoda Fabia WRC.

On the previous stage his car had developed an issue with the hydraulic flappy-paddle gearchanges on his steering wheel,[39] which meant he had had to resort to shifting gears manually.

[3][7] But by the end of the Leg and 550.02 km (341.77 mi) of driving, Loeb's arm and shoulder were in great pain and his osteopath worked through the night to try to address the problems.

[48] It cost him a few seconds and he finished the stage ninth, behind Hirvonen, Jean-Marie Cuoq, Gardemeister and Kopecký, but he retained his fourth place standing in the event's classifications.

[55] But Latvala pushed too hard and when he drove over some loose gravel he lost control and slid the car into the end of a stone wall.

The impact caused damage to the car's roll cage which forced him to retire from the rally and end his attempt to earn any points.

After conducting the entire race in France the organisers only paid lip service to the principality by holding a Super Special Stage there.

[3][7] It involved two laps of part of the Circuit de Monaco for a total distance of 2.8 km (1.7 mi), with two cars on the road at the same time but starting at two different points along the track so that they did not interfere with each other.

[59] Because the Service Park was in Valence, repairs, adjustments, refuelling and tyre changes were carried out on Saturday night ahead of the drive down to the coast.

To protect them from breaking up too quickly the drivers had learned how to look after them, but driving that way on the new brand meant that he could not get the BFs up to temperature and ended up running slower.

[3][7][66] As a consequence of the final positions, Loeb started the season leading in the World Rally Championship for Drivers with ten points.