Hyundai Motorsport has outlined its intentions to compete once again at the very forefront of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), with its sights set firmly on the manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles.The team finished as runners-up in 2018, for the third time in a row, having taken the title fight down to the wire. In […]
SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN WRC HISTORY GATHERED IN PARIS ON WEDNESDAY TO BE OFFICIALLY INDUCTED INTO THE FIA HALL OF FAME. The governing body of world motorsport honoured the 17 different world champions during a ceremony at the Automobile Club de France. The list of inductees features the names of some of the […]
Ian Callum’s team used a 2.0 Convertible to honor the XK120’s seventieth anniversary, as well as ‘NUB 120,’ their rally roadster from the 1950s.In 1948, Jaguar new XK straight-six first appeared in the nose of a brand new roadster, the XK120 development prototype. Once in production, the post-war two-seater turned out to be the fastest […]
Former World Rally Championship frontrunner Mikko Hirvonen will campaign a Ford Escort Mk2 in the national section of the West Cork Rally in Ireland next month.The 39-year-old started 163 WRC events in 2002-14 with 15 wins as a Ford and Citroen factory driver.He has competed in Ireland before, back when the country had a WRC […]
By: David Evans The World Rally Championship will move forward with an electric or hybrid solution from 2022.Details and outlined regulations for the next generation of cars will be revealed this year, with FIA President Jean Todt admitting to his own frustration at the slow progress towards a sustainable future in the WRC. Todt said: “Myself, […]
Home driver Onkar Rai rallied from a minute deficit in the first loop to register an emphatic hat-trick at the KCB Nakuru Rally yesterdayHis last gasp drive saw the Kabras Sugar Racing ace eclipse defending champion Carl “Flash” Tundo by four seconds in a day of high drama, dust and speed. Tundo led the […]
By David Evans Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena emerged unharmed from a sizeable testing crash ahead of Rally Sweden on Thursday.Hyundai Motorsport has worked through the night to rebuild the i20 Coupe WRC for Andreas Mikkelsen’s test on Friday. The team doesn’t expect to lose any testing time due to the accident. A spokesman from […]
SÉBASTIEN LOEB WAS UPBEAT FOLLOWING HIS RALLYE MONTE-CARLO DEBUT WITH HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT, DESPITE JUST MISSING OUT ON A PODIUM.Loeb, a nine-time champion with seven Monte wins, brought his i20 WRC home in fourth place on his first rally with the team. Despite just one day of testing, Loeb claimed two stage wins and was firmly […]
FIA boss Jean Todt believes the world’s premiere rally class needs to play a technological role FIA president Jean Todt is pushing for the introduction of electrified powertrains into the World Rally Championship by 2022 in order to attract more manufacturers to the sport. The Frenchman believes the world’s premiere rally class needs to play a technological […]
Porsche promises a factory-backed Cayman rally racer for 2020, and racing legend Walter Rohrl is helping the development process. Earlier this month Porsche announced it would take the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport racing in the World Rally Championship’s R-GT class. Though it has yet to build a 718 GT4 to R-GT specifications, it has built a previous-generation Cayman GT4 […]
DANI SORDO WILL TACKLE PORTUGAL’S RALI SERRAS DE FAFE NEXT MONTH IN PREPARATION FOR HIS 2019 WRC DEBUT AT RALLY GUANAJUATO MÉXICO (7 – 10 MARCH).The Spaniard will drive a Hyundai i20 R5 on the gravel rally, the first round of the Portuguese championship, which runs from 22 – 23 February, two weeks before the […]
Valtteri Bottas left a lasting good impression on M-Sport boss Rich Millener after his rally debut in Lapland last week with the World Rally Championship outfit. Driving a Ford Fiesta WRC in the Arctic Lapland Rally, Bottas’ claimed a stage win and finished the event fifth overall, a performance that did not go unnoticed. “As you’d […]
Respect to Valtteri Bottas for taking part in — and finishing — the Artic Lapland Rally last week. The two-day event in Finland may have been in familiar snowbound conditions for Bottas but he was entering new territory when it came to learning about the full-house M-Sport WRC Ford Fiesta and the very different challenge […]
The 2019 racing season began with a resounding success for Abarth in the FIA R-GT Cup in the Monte Carlo Rally for the Abarth 124 rally driven by Italians Enrico Brazzoli and Manuel Fenoli. The Abarth 124 rally reasserted its position as the GT to beat in its category, having won in 2018 with Frenchmen […]
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team made a strong start to their 2019 campaign with all three drivers finishing in the top six, led by Ott Tänak who mounted a brilliant fight-back to claim third place. Team newcomer Kris Meeke made an impressive debut in the Yaris WRC, finishing sixth and winning the final, points-scoring […]
Malcolm Wilson has set himself the task of rebuilding M-Sport financially in 2019 so the independent Cumbrian team can return as a stronger operation to challenge for both WRC titles in 2020.ilson agreed that the last two WRC campaigns had taken a toll and that allied to dwindling R5 sales and the almost complete loss of […]
Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas claimed fifth place, and a stage win, on his rally debut at the Arctic Rally in his native Finland on Saturday.Bottas was equipped with a Ford Fiesta WRC similar in specification to those used by M-Sport’s World Rally Championship drivers, in a white-and-blue livery, and with his ‘VB77’ logo […]
The 2019 American Rally Association championship starts this Friday with Sno*Drift Rally, a 118-mile race in the northern reaches of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The traditional start of the U.S. rally season, Sno*Drift pits the best rally drivers in the country against some of the year’s harshest conditions — snow, ice, below-zero temperatures and nighttime’s darkness. All […]
Sebastien Ogier takes a nervous victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo fending off a late attack from Thierry Neuville to win by 2.2s Sebastien Ogier has claimed a nail-biting victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo fending off a late attack from Thierry Neuville to win by 2.2s despite suffering with throttle issues on the final two stages. Neuville closed […]
By: Jack Cozens Thierry Neuville set up a tense finish to the 2019 World Rally Championship season-opening Monte Carlo Rally by taking time out of leader Sebastien Ogier on Sunday morning’s two stages.Just 3.2 seconds separates the pair with two stages of the rally to run, while Ott Tanak continued his recovery and has moved ahead […]
SÉBASTIEN OGIER AND THIERRY NEUVILLE HEAD INTO SUNDAY’S RALLYE MONTE-CARLO FINALE SPLIT BY LESS THAN A HANDFUL OF SECONDS AFTER ANOTHER TITANIC MOUNTAIN ROAD DUEL TODAY. Ogier, hunting a sixth straight victory in the French Alps on his Citroën C3 debut, led by 4.3sec after the penultimate leg. Just four more speed tests covering 64km […]
By: Alasdair Lindsay World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier continues to hold Thierry Neuville at bay for the lead of the Monte Carlo Rally, edging out a 5.3s gap after Saturday’s first two stages.Tyre choice gambles from Friday were taken out of the equation, with four studded tyres and two softs taken by all leading crews, meaning […]
SÉBASTIEN OGIER HELD A SLENDER LEAD IN HIS QUEST FOR A SIXTH CONSECUTIVE RALLY MONTE-CARLO VICTORY AFTER A CAPTIVATING DUEL IN THE FRENCH ALPS ON FRIDAY.The world champion, driving a Citroën C3 for the first time, ended the second leg of the FIA World Rally Championship’s season opener with a 2.0sec advantage over arch-rival Thierry […]
By: Jack Cozens Sebastien Ogier leads Thierry Neuville at the head of the Monte Carlo Rally order, but Ott Tanak dropped out of the fight on Friday afternoon after picking up a puncture.Ogier, who is making his first World Rally Championship start since returning to the Citroen fold, started the afternoon loop 3.4 seconds behind Neuville and should […]
An overshoot in the opening corner of Valdrome – Sigottier cost Neuville 20sec, but the Belgian recovered magnificently to regain all the lost time and more in the next 9km. He couldn’t maintain that pace and ended the test 2.0sec down, as his lead was cut to 1.4sec. Tyres were again the big talking point […]
by: David Evans FIA rally director Yves Matton has defended the Rally Monte Carlo organisers’ decision not to cancel Friday morning’s loop of stages despite fierce criticism from Toyota team principal Tommi Makinen. Makinen called for all three stages to be called off after it became clear Friday’s opening one would be canned, stating it would be unfair […]
By: David Evans Toyota World Rally Championship team principal Tommi Makinen has threatened to withhold his drivers from Monte Carlo Rally media activities after his call to cancel Friday morning’s stages was denied. The first stage of the loop was cancelled due to concerns over spectator safety, a decision that left Makinen furious as his team […]
By: Jack Cozens Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville grabbed the lead of the Monte Carlo Rally on Friday morning’s truncated loop of stages on the 2019 World Rally Championship season opener.WRC crews’ tyre selections were the biggest differentiator on the loop, with Hyundai drivers Neuville, Sebastien Loeb and Andreas Mikkelsen benefitting from bolder choices when the morning’s opening […]
By: Matt Beer Toyota driver Ott Tanak leads the WRC-opening Monte Carlo Rally, while Kris Meeke and Sebastien Loeb both starred early before hitting problems.In his first WRC start for Toyota, Meeke was Tanak’s closest challenger as the Yaris duo set a commanding pace on the La Breole-Selonnet stage that kicked the season off – the pair five […]
OTT TÄNAK AVOIDED THE MANY PITFALLS IN THE FRENCH ALPS TO LEAD RALLYE MONTE-CARLO AFTER THURSDAY NIGHT’S TRICKY OPENING LEG.The Estonian, driving a Toyota Yaris, headed world champion Sébastien Ogier by 9.1sec after two typically contrasting night-time stages near Gap. Thierry Neuville was 14.3sec off the lead in third. The trio who fought such a […]
The Abarth 124 rally is opening the 2019 season at the Monte Carlo Rally, the first event of the World Rally Championship WRC, with Enrico Brazzoli and crew-mate Manuel Fenoli (ITA) at the wheel of a Bernini Rally Team car. The spider with the scorpion badge is the defending champion having won the FIA R-GT […]
KRIS MEEKE’S FIRST RALLY DAY WITH TOYOTA GAZOO RACING STARTED IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY WHEN HE WAS FASTEST THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING’S SHAKEDOWN AT RALLYE MONTE-CARLO. The Yaris World Rally Car driver edged world champion Sébastien Ogier by a tenth of a second in the 3.35km Gap test. New signings were to the fore as […]
After decades of missing out on the action, Porsche will once again return to rally racing. The company announced last Friday that it will develop a purpose-built factory rally race car along the lines of the Cayman GT4 Rally concept car shown last August. The factory race car, meant to do battle in the FIA-sanctioned R-GT class, […]
THIERRY NEUVILLE HAS WARNED RIVALS TO EXPECT A MORE AGGRESSIVE APPROACH FROM HYUNDAI IN 2019 AS IT STEPS UP EFFORTS TO SECURE A MAIDEN WRC TITLE.The Korean manufacturer has tackled five seasons without championship success and has finished runner-up in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ battles for the past three years. In an attempt to boost […]
By: David Evans Mercedes Formula 1 racer Valtteri Bottas has received advice from M-Sport World Rally Championship driver Teemu Suninen ahead of his rallying debut this weekend.Bottas is contesting the Arctic Rally in Finland in a Ford Fiesta WRC, co-driven by Timo Rautiainen – who won two world championships alongside Marcus Gronholm in the early 2000s. Though […]
OTT TÄNAK BELIEVES TOYOTA GAZOO RACING’S 2018 TITLE SUCCESS HAS HELPED SETTLE PRE-SEASON NERVES ON THE EVE OF THIS WEEK’S SEASON-OPENING RALLYE MONTE-CARLO (24-27 JANUARY). The Estonian, winner of four WRC events last season, led Toyota to its first manufacturers’ crown since returning to the WRC after a 17-year absence. The success lifted the […]
THE TWO GREATEST DRIVERS IN FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY RENEW THEIR FIERCE RIVALRY AS THE 2019 SEASON ROARS INTO ACTION AT THE FAMOUS RALLYE MONTE-CARLO ON THURSDAY (24 – 27 JANUARY).The French Sébastiens – Ogier and Loeb – have won the last 15 world titles and shared 13 Monte victories, but both might feel […]
All change at the top as the World Rally Championship kicks off on its 14-round, 11-month marathon world tour. The championship has been launched; all the glitz of Autosport International, with gleaming new cars is over and it is now down to business. And the 2019 WRC sees some seismic changes. Usually, one championship follows the previous […]
The FIA World Rally Championship roars back into action This week with the oldest and most famous event of them all, Rallye Monte-Carlo (24-27 January). While classed as an asphalt event, its winter slot in the calendar almost certainly guarantees unpredictable conditions, and a tricky mix of dry and wet asphalt, snow and ice in […]
The carmaker will shift its factory ARC programme away from Les Walkden Rallying for 2019, instead linking up with another Tasmanian-based team in Orange Motorsport Engineering, run by Craig Brooks.That ends a three-year relationship with LWR, which helped revive Subaru’s factory rally presence down under back in 2016 by taking Molly Taylor to a milestone ARC title, the first […]