Rally

The Australian round is key for Hyundai as it chases a maiden WRC manufacturers' title, and the Korean marque will arrive 18 points clear of Toyota. Mikkelsen, who won the Coffs Harbour-based event three years ago, had initially been the preferred option for Hyundai, but an amended entry list reveals Breen and his co-driver Paul Nagle will drive the #18 i20 Coupe WRC. Breen, who joins fellow ...Keep reading View the full article

Ostberg has been developing Citroen’s second-tier C3 R5 car this season after he was dropped from Citroen’s top WRC line-up in favour of Rally Finland winner Esapekka Lappi and six-time champion Ogier. However, Ostberg looked to have been given a last-minute 2019 reprieve, Citroen entering the Norwegian in the top class in Australia to help Sebastien Ogier’s title chances in the final ...Keep reading View the full article

Motorsport.com broke the news the Estonian would leave his current team Toyota at the end of this season last week. The recently-crowned World Rally champion joins Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo and Sebastien Loeb for the Korean manufacturer's 2020 WRC campaign. Tanak, who took a maiden world title with second place and a stunning powerstage win at last week's Rally of Spain, said: "I am ...Keep reading View the full article

The calendar was announced following an FIA Off-Road Commission meeting on Wednesday. The British round at Silverstone and the Canadian round at Trois-Rivieres have been dropped from the schedule. The Nurburgring previously held Internations Cup rallycross events in the early 1990s, and will be the third German circuit to host World RX, following rounds held at the traditional Estering venue ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier tested the Yaris WRC in 2016 after Volkswagen’s withdrawal from the WRC, but signed for M-Sport, where he added two more titles in a Ford Fiesta WRC. The six-time champion joined Citroen on a two-year deal last season and has one year remaining on that agreement, after which he has said he will retire from the sport. When asked about his future after Rally Spain, Ogier said ...Keep reading View the full article

Motorsport.com revealed last week that Tanak had sensationally agreed to leave Toyota for Hyundai just before clinching the title in the Rally of Spain. He will line up alongside Neuville as Hyundai's full-time drivers, with Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo set to share a third i20. Neuville refused to confirm the Tanak news - which is expected to be officially announced later this week - but ...Keep reading View the full article

A late charge to second and maximum Power Stage points allowed Tanak to put the 2019 title beyond the reach of rally winner Thierry Neuville going into the finale in Australia next month. Tanak's first championship win comes after a near-miss in 2018, when late-season misfortunes halted his title bid after a string of mid-year wins. Prior to becoming a frontrunner in the past three seasons ...Keep reading View the full article

Neuville did absolutely all he could to deny Tanak’s title with a perfectly controlled performance, hitting the front on Saturday when the action switched from gravel to tarmac and winning the rally by 17.2s over Tanak, who overhauled Dani Sordo on the final stage. Needing to beat or finish just one place behind Neuville on the test, Tanak won the Power Stage with a scorching time, 3.6s ...Keep reading View the full article

Saturday afternoon began with Neuville, Loeb and Sordo preserving a Hyundai 1-2-3, with Toyota’s Tanak nearly 10 seconds in arrears of third-placed Sordo. Yet Tanak had won the first pass of El Montmell that concluded the morning and picked up where he left off with a quickest time on Savalla 2. Further stage wins on the repeat passes of Querol and El Montmell allowed Tanak to chew into ...Keep reading View the full article

After Friday’s six gravel stages, the action switched to tarmac, and Meeke immediately deprived Dani Sordo of third place on the opening Savalla test with the second-quickest time. But it would all unravel quickly on Querol when Meeke smashed his Toyota Yaris WRC against the Armco barrier and ripped the rear-right wheel off. Although the crash promoted teammate Ott Tanak to fourth and thus ...Keep reading View the full article

Despite "pushing really hard," Toyota's Ott Tanak has slipped from third to fifth place, 20 seconds behind Neuville. But as things stand Tanak, who will switch to Hyundai next season, is provisionally set to clinch his first WRC title on Sunday subject to powerstage points. Loeb was a man on a mission, jumping up from sixth to fourth on stage four before overhauling Tanak into third with a ...Keep reading View the full article

Motorsport.com's sources have confirmed the deal was completed earlier this month. Tanak, who has been driven for Toyota for the last two years, denied any such agreement was in place and insisted his focus remains firmly on securing a first WRC title in Spain this week. A service park source said: "Hyundai is the good option. Working with [team boss Andrea] Adamo, Ott knows what he will get ...Keep reading View the full article

The Vila Real venue had been part of the series’ schedule since before rallycross gained World RX status in 2014, but was dropped from the 2019 calendar. The circuit has revealed that it will return with a minimum one-year deal from 2020, and is the third event to be confirmed for next season, following announcements from Spa-Francorchamps that the Belgian venue will host its second World ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier made the best possible start by winning the opening Gandesa stage, pulling a slender 0.7s advantage over Sordo and a further 0.3s over Neuville. But it all went wrong at the very start of the following Horta-Bot test, as a hydraulic problem on his Citroen C3 caused his paddle-shift and power steering to fail “straight away.” He haemorrhaged 42.7s to championship favourite Ott Tanak ...Keep reading View the full article

Circuit racing fans are used to high quality live coverage – but truly live TV coverage of the WRC, were stages can take place hundreds of kilometres apart, proved impossible to achieve in the past. That all changed recently thanks to WRC+, a streaming product that has been made possible by new technology and a different mindset, meaning that fans can now follow every second live on their ...Keep reading View the full article

Alonso will contest the Saudi Arabian-based event on January 5-17 in a Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa-prepared Hilux 4x4 with Marc Coma as his navigator. He joins defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, Giniel de Villiers and Bernhard ten Brinke in an expanded four-car factory line-up for the Japanese marque, which was unveiled in a press conference on Thursday in Tarragona. Alonso turned ...Keep reading View the full article

Pictures detailing major changes to the aero on Citroen's C3 WRC appeared last week and suggested the team was trying the most drastic aero alterations seen since the current cars were introduced for 2017. But a team spokesperson said there will be no upgrades on Sebastien Ogier and Esapekka Lappi's C3 WRCs in Salou this week. Citroen had hoped to introduce new suspension for the previous ...Keep reading View the full article

After missing out on a Citroen seat to Ogier and Esapekka Lappi in 2019, Ostberg has stepped back to help the team develop its new R5 car. Ostberg finished third in Australia in a C3 WRC last year and will benefit from a start position further down the order on the opening day this time around. Ogier sits 28 points behind points leader and Toyota driver Ott Tanak going into next weekend's ...Keep reading View the full article

The key to remote production is the low latency and high bandwidth of the fibre connection, provided by Tata Communications, which means that more and more production roles can be performed back at base, without any loss in quality. This not only allows the series to do more, offering fans more comprehensive broadcast coverage, it is also highly cost efficient and reduces the carbon footprint ...Keep reading View the full article

Cowan retired from the Mitsubishi team at the end of the 2005 season, having directed the Japanese manufacturer’s dominance of Group A rallying in the late 1990s. It was under Cowan’s guidance that Tommi Makinen won four straight world titles from 1996-1999. The 1998 season was Cowan’s most successful, with the Finn topping the drivers’ standings and the Lancer securing Mitsubishi its ...Keep reading View the full article