Rally

The 319km opening stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally was run between Jeddah and Al Wajh. Brabec, who suffered a bike failure from the lead last year, led for about the first 100 kilometres of the stage before Price took over. The American kept the gap close for the whole stage, with Price only able to record the stage win by 2m05s. Both of Price's star teammates Matthias Walkner and Sam ...Keep reading View the full article

1. How will Alonso fare on his debut? Let’s face it – the main draw for most casual observers in this particular Dakar will be to observe how a certain Fernando Alonso fares on his debut. And the message from the Spaniard in the build-up to the event has been clear: Don’t expect too much of me. Rally director David Castera might have tipped Alonso to win a stage, but the reality is ...Keep reading View the full article

X-raid’s assault in the 2020 edition of the event will be fronted by Stephane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz Sr in a pair of Mini JCW Buggies, Cyril Despres having left the team. This puts the German outfit on a weaker footing against its principal rival Toyota, which will field a quartet of factory-supported Hilux pick-ups for Fernando Alonso, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Giniel de Villiers and Bernhard ...Keep reading View the full article

Dakar legend Peterhansel was due to take part in the 2020 edition of the event in one of the X-raid squad's Mini JCW Buggies with his wife Andrea, after the two won last year's FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies as a pair. However, Andrea was forced to drop out of the rally at the last minute after medical tests revealed a problem with one of her arteries. Fiuza, who joined Peterhansel ...Keep reading View the full article

After being dumped by Citroen midway through the 2018 season, Meeke was signed by Toyota for 2019, only to be let go by the Japanese marque at the end of the campaign. This week's confirmation that Citroen outcast Esapekka Lappi is replacing Elfyn Evans at M-Sport Ford in 2020 leaves no more seats free at the highest level. Following Toyota's decision to drop both Meeke and Jari-Matti ...Keep reading View the full article

The two-time Formula 1 champion and Le Mans 24 Hours winner will make his first start in the legendary cross-country event at the wheel of a factory-supported Toyota Hilux, after months of preparations with the Japanese manufacturer. He goes into the Dakar boosted by a podium finish in the recent Ula-Neom Rally, which followed more troubled outings in the Lichtenburg 400 and the Morocco ...Keep reading View the full article

Castera told Motorsport.com that feedback from the drivers after the Morocco Rally, which is also organised by the ASO and served as a test bench for the new roadbook philosophy, has led him to apply some tweaks to the navigation system. The Frenchman acknowledged that the delivery of the roadbook to competitors in "at least four" of the rally's 12 stages shortly before the start of the stage ...Keep reading View the full article

Kolomy – who usually competes in the Truck class and is teammate to former WRC competitor Martin Prokop – rolled his Ford end-over-end in the sand dunes during a shakedown run. The car landed back on its wheels after a series of rollovers, with its nose wedged firmly against a dune. One of the medical helicopters from the Rally’s organisers quickly arrived at the scene of the crash. They ...Keep reading View the full article

Both Finnish drivers will tackle all 13 rounds of this year’s series, while Gus Greensmith gets nine rounds aboard a Ford Fiesta WRC. M-Sport's decision to sign Lappi to the car Elfyn Evans vacated in favour of a Toyota drive closes out the final factory seat in the WRC in 2020. Lappi, who lost his seat when Citroen departed the WRC after last season, won his first rally title – the 2012 ...Keep reading View the full article

The initiative, spearheaded by new rally director David Castera, comes as a result of continued suspicions that teams have been able to circumvent the regulations regarding navigation in the last few editions of the marathon through the use of various tools. Motorsport.com has learned that, in a hitherto unprecedented measure, the top 25 cars in the first Saudi Arabia-based edition of the event ...Keep reading View the full article

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Red Bull announced a cross-country junior programme, analogous to its successful Junior Team scheme in Formula 1, in cooperation with Overdrive earlier this month. Young American racers Blade Hildebrand, Mitch Guthrie Jr and Seth Quintero were announced as the initial intake, with all three lined up to contest the 2020 Dakar in the UTV (side-by-side) class in Overdrive's newly-built OT3 ...Keep reading View the full article

Toyota has an all new line-up for next season, with M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans and WRC2 champion Kalle Rovanpera joining Citroen convert Ogier for 2020. Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke haven’t received renewed full-season deals with the team, while reigning champion Ott Tanak has moved to Hyundai. Despite the fact that Rovanpera is a rookie and Evans has only one WRC win to his name, Ogier ...Keep reading View the full article

There are no shortage of examples of champions at the highest levels of motorsport that end up attempting to defend their titles with a different team to that with which they won them in the first place. Some make a totally seamless transition (see Valentino Rossi, Eddie Lawson), some take a few years to add to their tally of crowns (Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost), and for others it can prove ...Keep reading View the full article

Original talks on hybrid were focused only on ensuring the rally cars drove using electric power through built up areas and in and around the service park. Now, however, the FIA has confirmed the proposed 100kw hybrid e-motor can be used - via the governing body's sanctioned software and hardware strategies - to boost the 380bhp internal combustion engine. While the FIA will control the ...Keep reading View the full article

Peterhansel won this year's FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies with Andrea alongside him, the husband-and-wife duo claiming victory in April's Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge before taking further podiums in Kazakhstan and Morocco. However, Andrea - a former top-five Dakar finisher in her own right - did not take part in last month's Riyadh Rally in Saudi Arabia after failing an unspecified ...Keep reading View the full article

Two-time Dakar winner Sainz is gunning for a third triumph in the legendary rally-raid, which he will tackle for a second time with X-raid following his four-year stint at Peugeot. His victory hopes went up in smoke as early as the third stage in this year's edition, as he broke his Mini's front-left suspension after hitting a ditch and lost over three hours. He finally ended the event 13th ...Keep reading View the full article

The Italian tyre firm, which has been involved in the WRC since the start in 1973, will deliver all tyres used by Rally1 (World Rally Cars) and Rally2 cars (R5 class) for a four-year term starting in 2021 until the end of 2024. Pirelli already supplies junior categories in the World and European Rally Championships and recently signed a four-year extension to its Formula 1 agreement. MRF ...Keep reading View the full article

Alonso will tackle the Saudi Arabia-based event at the wheel of a factory-run Toyota Hilux with Dakar motorcycle legend Marc Coma as his co-driver. Since August, the two-time Formula 1 world champion has been ramping up his preparations for the marathon, contesting the Lichtenburg 400 in South Africa, the Morocco Rally and Al-Ula Neom Rally in Saudi Arabia, in which he secured third place ...Keep reading View the full article

Single-seater convert Katsuta started two top-level events for Toyota this year in Germany and Spain, finishing 10th in the former, and also took a WRC2 victory in Chile at the wheel of a Tommi Makinen Racing-run Ford Fiesta R5. Next season, the 26-year-old will start all seven European rallies in addition to his home event, with the experienced Dan Barritt continuing as his ...Keep reading View the full article