The 1938 Monte Carlo Rally had seen the introduction of a mountain section through the French Alps, thereby providing an exacting new test and further establishing the event as an all-round examination of driving skills. In particular the ascent and descent of the treacherous Col des Leques had proved such an attraction that the Alpine route from Grenoble was retained for the following year. The Alpine route was divided into five sections and had a target average speed of 31mph (49.9km/h). The first section went from Grenoble over the Col de la Croix Haute to St Julien en Bouchène, where the relatively straightforward second section began. Section three was short and sharp – an 8 mile (12.9km) sprint from Barrème to Castellane via the twisty, and invariably icy, Col des Leques. Section four from Castellane to Grasse took the drivers over the Col de Luens, and finally section five was the run through Nice to Monte Carlo.
For 1939, a total of 500 bonus points were awarded to starters from Athens, 498 points from Bucharest or Tallinn, 497 from Stavanger or Palermo, and 496 from John O’Groats or Umea. With every point vital in the final reckoning, 42 of the 121 starters chose Athens, although aviator Amy Johnson was one of 24 setting out from John O’Groats. While the Scandinavian routes were badly hit by snow, a series of landslides near Salonika were cleared in time for the Athens starters to get through. The conditions on the Alps were less severe than had been anticipated – even the Col des Leques was clear – with the result that the majority of the competitors were able to keep within the time limits and not incur penalty points. Since the Alpine route had failed to thin out the field, everything rested on the final two sections – the driving test and the speed hill climb, the latter a new feature for that year. The driving test consisted of a 200 yard (183m) sprint, a fast reverse over a line, and then another 100 yard (91.4m) dash to the finish.
The joint leaders going into the test were Jean Trevoux and co-driver M. Lesurque (the 1938 runners-up) in a 3.5-litre Hotchkiss, and Jean Paul and co-driver M. Contet in a 3.5-litre Delahaye. Both had started from Athens and both had been unpenalised between Grenoble and Monte Carlo. Moreover, they recorded the same time – 25.8 seconds – for the driving test. They were actually beaten in the driving test by the 1938 winner Bakker Schut in a Ford V8, but he had started from Tallinn where there were fewer bonus points to be earned. So this left Trevoux and Paul still tied for the lead with just the corkscrew hill climb at Eze remaining. Incredibly, they again recorded identical times – 72.6 seconds – in being the fastest up the hill, and so for the first and only time in the history of the Monte Carlo Rally, the event ended in a tie.