Rally

Paddon made the comments at the official unveiling of his new electric car at Hyundai Motors in New Zealand, a project that has taken only eighteen months and just over 10,000-man hours to complete. Work was due to be completed by April only for the deadline to be pushed back due to the coronavirus health pandemic. Based on the Hyundai Kona crossover road car, 80 per cent of the competition ...Keep reading View the full article

The rescheduled event had been planned to run on the final weekend in November, alongside the final day of the Ypres rally, set to be an edition to the World Rally Championship calendar amid the coronavirus hit schedules. Spa’s World RX round was initially due to take place in May, before being moved to October and then November. Belgium’s Formula 1 venue recently announced it would have no ...Keep reading View the full article

Only five of the rallies that made up the original 2020 WRC calendar for this year went ahead as planned, with these far outweighed by rounds in Argentina, Portugal, Kenya, Finland, New Zealand, Japan, Great Britain and Germany being cancelled. Estonia and Belgium were added to help shore up the re-jigged schedule prior to Rally Monza joining the fray as an eighth event, but last week the FIA ...Keep reading View the full article

Just three weeks before the rally was due to make its bow as the series’ penultimate round it had to be abandoned as the number of positive COVID-19 cases throughout Belgium remains worryingly high. Prior to yesterday’s announcement, fears were growing for the tarmac classic in light of neighbouring France and Germany imposing fresh lockdowns to try and stymie the spread of the respiratory ...Keep reading View the full article

Added to the heavily-disrupted 2020 WRC schedule in August as a replacement for the cancelled Rally Japan, the Ypres Rally had been set to take place on November 20-22, having been rescheduled from its original June date. However, amid an uptick in coronavirus cases across Western Europe, the decision was made in a local government meeting on Friday to call off the event. It means there is ...Keep reading View the full article

Prodrive continues to work intensely on its Dakar project with a view to January 3, when the second Saudi Arabia-based edition of the legendary rally raid will begin. After announcing Roma and Loeb as drivers for their debut on the Dakar, the squad completed its first kilometres last week with its four-wheel drive BRX T1 contender, which is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.5 litre V6 petrol ...Keep reading View the full article

Kristoffersson’s nearest challenger for the crown, double DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom, topped the order in qualifying at the Barcelona-Catalunya Formula 1 venue, while for the first time this year, Kristoffersson didn’t set a single fastest qualifying time and wound up fifth in the Intermediate order. However, from third on the grid in the first semi-final Kristoffersson passed Kevin ...Keep reading View the full article

Hansen qualified second in the Intermediate Classification and started from pole for semi-final two, then overcame brother Kevin Hansen during the race with a superior joker lap strategy. Series leader Kristoffersson headed qualifying, then dominated the first semi-final to secure pole for the all-important final. In the main event, the Swede survived being squeezed in turn one to lead for the ...Keep reading View the full article

As well as giving crews a power boost on the stages, the technology is set to be used on road sections. Test work on the new system, which was awarded to German firm Compact Dynamics in March, is expected to begin next February. To improve safety, Rally1 cars will feature a secondary hoop built into the roll cage behind the driver and co-driver to increase torsional stiffness in the ...Keep reading View the full article

Evans finished fourth on the antepenultimate round of the championship to retain top spot in the drivers’ standings, although his lead over Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier was trimmed to 14 points. Two bonus points from the power stage ensured the gap between the two Yaris men was not closer and meant Evans ended what was a frustrating weekend on the Mediterranean island on a high ...Keep reading View the full article

Having refused to entertain the idea for many months on the grounds it did not represent good value for money in the current climate, the Department for the Economy and Tourism Northern Ireland appear to have softened their approach to the idea of welcoming Rally GB to the province. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Department for the Economy said: “Tourism Northern Ireland has very recently ...Keep reading View the full article

Motorsport.com exclusively revealed last week that World RX commercial rights holder IMG would step away from the discipline at the end of the current campaign, which has now been officially confirmed by the FIA. “The announcement follows discussions between IMG and the FIA, in which IMG has expressed a desire not to continue as the World RX promoter in 2021 and 2022,” said a statement from ...Keep reading View the full article

Monza becomes the third entirely new event to join rallying’s top flight after Rally Estonia – the home round of defending World Rally champions Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja – and Belgium’s Rally Ypres. They were called upon following the quick-fire loss of several events because of the global coronavirus health pandemic. These included rallies in Portugal, Finland, Wales, Kenya and ...Keep reading View the full article

An inspection of the Spaniard’s Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC showed the rear subframe to be underweight. The part in question was shown to total 9112g, with the minimum permissible weight being 9136.5g. Checks were also carried out on the cars belonging to Sordo’s teammates Ott Tanak, Thierry Neuville – who finished second – and Hyundai junior driver Pierre-Louis Loubet. Despite their ...Keep reading View the full article

Sordo’s cameo in the third Hyundai entry gave a huge fillip to his employers’ chances in the manufacturers’ title race, while the battle for the drivers’ title is shaping up to be a four-way fight towards the very final stage of the year. Cooler conditions greeted the runners on Sunday morning, an overcast sky dropping ambient temperatures by 10C from the first two days. A loop of just ...Keep reading View the full article

Held over around 1000km and four days in the eponymous region in southern Spain, the Andalusia Rally replaced Rally Morocco as the main preparation event for the second running of Dakar in Saudi Arabia for this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event also served as a chance to test some new features set to be introduced to the Dakar, including an electronic roadbook for cars and SxSs, and ...Keep reading View the full article

After being forced to sweep the stages on Friday, the championship-leading Toyotas of Ogier and Elfyn Evans were released from their burden in Saturday’s road order and duly finished first and second on the opening stage of the day. Ogier, third overnight, began to reel in M-Sport’s Teemu Suninen whose Ford Fiesta held a fragile overnight hold on second place. The Cumbrian squad started the ...Keep reading View the full article

Confirmed following a virtual meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) members earlier today, Rally Estonia marks the halfway point of the series in July, with Turkey, Greece, Belgium and Argentina all on the reserve list. “The inclusion of Croatia to the WRC for the first time is an exciting new challenge to our fixture list and brings huge anticipation,” said WRC Promoter ...Keep reading View the full article

On Friday it was announced the WRC will end this year’s schedule with the Rally Monza event, which since 1978 has been held as a non-championship outing. Nine-times grand prix motorcycle world champion Rossi is a veteran of the event, having won it seven times. Upon news of the Monza Rally becoming a world championship event, Rossi was asked if he would participate this ...Keep reading View the full article

Many of the front-runners elected to take a cautious approach on the opening stage of the day, which allowed M-Sport's Teemu Suninen to shine. The Finn, who has previously won the WRC3 and WRC2 categories on Sardinia's rough-hewn stages, took full advantage of the clear path that his road position granted to claim the lead by 12.4 seconds. Sordo, as one of the three drivers rotating through ...Keep reading View the full article