Rally

The Swedish round at Holjes, set to take place at the start of July, is also under review and could be moved to later in the year. “Due to the decision by the Norwegian Minister of Sport and Culture to suspend all sporting events until June 15 in light of the global health concerns regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus), this year’s World RX of Norway, scheduled for June 13-14, has been ...Keep reading View the full article

The Spa circuit, which joined the World RX roster last year, was originally planned host the the third round of the 2020 season on May 16-17. But, with the Spanish and Portuguese events already postponed due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the Belgian circuit had become the temporary defacto season-opener, although it has been highly unlikely for some time that the event would be able to go ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier had rejoined the Citroen team last season after two years driving M-Sport's Ford Fiesta WRC car, but Tanak's title victory ended Ogier's streak of six titles in a row. Amid rumours that Ogier would consider retirement from the championship, he instead upped sticks to join Toyota, prompting Citroen's withdrawal from the WRC after 21 years in the category. Although Ogier announced that ...Keep reading View the full article

The FIA launched an invitation to tender last year for the 2022‐2024 seasons when the next generation of Rally1 vehicles are introduced. FIA rally director Yves Matton has previously told Motorsport.com that the hybrid systems will only be fitted to manufacturer WRC entries. The decision to award the contract to Compact Dynamics was approved by the FIA World Council via a special ...Keep reading View the full article

Having already announced that reigning European champion Larsson would race as a permanent individual entrant before the entry deadline earlier this month, the Joel Christoffersson-run JC Raceteknik squad has been able to expand into a permanent two-car team thanks to blessing from the rest of the World RX grid. Baumanis and Larsson will drive latest-specification S1s built by Mattias ...Keep reading View the full article

Portugal was due to host round five of the 2020 season on May 21-24, while Italy was scheduled for the start of June. The state of emergency has been extended in Portugal as a result of the COVID-18 epidemic, while Italy continues to be one of the epicenters for the virus. As a result, both events and the FIA have agreed the postponement of the rallies. No new dates have been announced ...Keep reading View the full article

Abbring was announced last month as the first signing for Guerlain Chicherit’s GC Kompetition concern, with plans to race a heavily revised Renault Clio RS RX in the five-round Euro RX series. The Dutchman will now join the five other cars run under various GCK banners for selected rounds of World RX including events in Portugal, Germany, Abu Dhabi and South Africa. This year, GCK will ...Keep reading View the full article

World RX had been due to return to the Vila Real circuit after a year’s absence on the first weekend in May (2-3), but like the opening round of the series in Spain that was postponed last week, the Portuguese event has now also been put on hold. A championship statement read: “Due to the Portuguese government declaring a state of emergency and the suspension of all sporting events in ...Keep reading View the full article

When they are presented to the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in June this year, the proposals will see increasing reliance on off-the-shelf components and a reduction in available transmission, braking, suspension and aerodynamic technology. The proposed formula, named Rally 1, sits at the top of a revised five-tier technical pyramid intended to increase accessibility for aspiring drivers and ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier secured his first victory since joining Toyota on Saturday, the Leon-based event having been cut short by three stages as Sunday's running was axed to help teams beat travel restrictions being imposed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The six-time World Rally champion expressed his reservations on Thursday ahead of the start of the rally about proceeding as most other major motorsport ...Keep reading View the full article

The dominant driver of his era delivered a command performance to join fellow French legend Sebastien Loeb as the only six-time winners of the event. The finish arrived early on year’s Rally Mexico after being shorn of the three scheduled stages on Sunday morning in order to give teams and media time to beat the forthcoming travel shutdown in the USA and Europe. In what transpired to ...Keep reading View the full article

The FIA announced the early termination of the third date of the World Rally Championship in view of the increased precautionary measures being introduced to protect the population from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rally Mexico was the only FIA world competition being held at this time after multiple cancellations within motorsport. The organization of the competition reported that the ...Keep reading View the full article

A revised starting order to start the new day put Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville at the front of the field, sweeping the stages after retiring yesterday with an electrical failure. Restarting under Rally 2 rules, the Belgian’s focus could only be on getting up the order to retrieve as many manufacturer points as possible, but on the opening run through Guanajuatito his road position put him 25 ...Keep reading View the full article

Our video begins as they arrive at the end of the El Chocolate 2 stage with flames visible underneath the rear end of the car. Ferm exited the car, as marshals attempted to extinguish the fire without success, and Lappi then drove it away – unaware of how serious the situation was. As the helicam images show, the fire took hold as Lappi drove down a forest track, and he parked the car in the ...Keep reading View the full article

Having taken the lead on the second stage of the morning loop, Ogier quietly got on with the job of building a cushion while rest of the front-runners struggled. The Frenchman’s Toyota teammate, joint championship leader Elfyn Evans, was hobbled by running first on the road and being forced to sweep the stages for everyone else behind him. In the third Toyota Yaris WRC, Kalle Rovanpera’s ...Keep reading View the full article

Having admitted to being preoccupied by the threat of Coronavirus ahead of the event, Ogier delivered on his promise to banish such thoughts on the first full day and his Toyota Yaris holds a nine-second lead at the lunchtime service halt. The day began with Hyundai's Thierry Neuville holding a 1.1s lead over Toyota's British ace Elfyn Evans. As joint championship leaders, however, this gave ...Keep reading View the full article

Catalan authorities have been increasing measures to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in the Spanish region over the last week, while on Friday the Spanish government declared a state of alarm in the country from Saturday (March 14), following the rapid growth of coronavirus cases in the country. A statement released by World RX promoter IMG said: “In light of the Generalitat de Catalunya’s ...Keep reading View the full article

Deferring the date of the rally, originally scheduled to take place on April 23-26, comes at the direction of the Cordoba provincial government in accordance with new measures implemented by the government of the Argentine Republic to contain the virus. The postponement was then unanimously agreed by WRC Promoter, the FIA and event organiser Automóvil Club Argentino (ACA). To date 31 cases ...Keep reading View the full article

Hyundai’s Belgian star relishes the now-traditional 910-metre sprint, which the field tackled twice in a tyre-smoking celebration of sport laid on for the hugely passionate local fans. On his first pass through the stage, Neuville’s time of 59.1 seconds put him 0.4 seconds in front of the man with whom he shares the points lead, Toyota’s Elfyn Evans. On his second run, the imperious ...Keep reading View the full article

The pair drove EKS-run Audi S1s in World RX last year, but will now switch to the GCK Megane RS RX, running under the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel banner. X Games gold medallist Doran has previous experience of racing the Megane, in a handful of World RX and Americas Rallycross starts in 2018, while Bakkerud tested with GCK at the end of the same season in South Africa. The pair were ...Keep reading View the full article