Rally

The French manufacturer has been testing its car in Spain ahead of next week’s Salou-based event, a crucial event in Ogier’s efforts to take his seventh straight championship and Citroen’s first world title since 2012. Ogier trails Toyota rival Ott Tanak by 28 points, with two events and 60 points left on the table. His biggest concern in Spain is the two days on asphalt, having ...Keep reading View the full article

Former Citroen driver Breen was given an initial Hyundai chance in Finland, where he impressed the team with seventh place and earned another outing on Rally GB. However, a roll there consigned him to a distant eighth-place finish. While Adamo expressed frustration that Breen had not made the hoped-for contribution to Hyundai's title bid - saying "I came here expecting that he could be in ...Keep reading View the full article

The two-time Formula 1 champion faced the first major test of his fledging cross-country rally career in the five-day Morocco event, the traditional warm-up to the Dakar. He and co-driver Marc Coma were running in the top 10 in their factory-entered Toyota Hilux when they sustained heavy front suspension damage in a crash in a ditch that was not marked in the roadbook during Monday's third ...Keep reading View the full article

Sainz sat 4m47s adrift of de Villiers heading into the last stage, but rapidly brought down that deficit to just 26 seconds in the first 146km of running. However, less than 10km from the finish line, an engine cooling tube on his MINI Cooper broke, ending the two-time World Rally championship’s charge in an instant. Sainz’s troubles cleared the path for de Villiers to win the final ...Keep reading View the full article

With Toyota thought likely to keep WRC leader Ott Tanak and to have already signed 19-year-old WRC2Pro champion Kalle Rovapera, Tanak's current teammates Meeke and Latvala are competing for what is expected to be just one place in the main 2020 line-up. Team principal Tommi Makinen said Meeke's recent results - including fourth on Rally GB last weekend - had strengthened his hand. "If we ...Keep reading View the full article

Sordo had been linked with a move to Toyota but Motorsport.com reported last month that he was set to stay at Hyundai into a seventh season instead. He took his first WRC win since 2012 in Italy earlier this year. Sordo has only been a part-time competitor in recent seasons as Hyundai regularly rotated its line-up, and is currently set for seven WRC events in his 2020 deal. "The team has ...Keep reading View the full article

The fourth stage of the five-day event was shortened to 311km from a planned distance of 408km, as non-functioning of one of the helicopters meant organisers weren't able to guarantee the safety of competitors through the entirety of the route. In a repeat of Monday's Stage 3, X-Raid MINI's Stephen Peterhansel held an early 2m19s lead in the first 64km, before extending that advantage to over ...Keep reading View the full article

Last week's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting agreed on revisions to current regulations in an effort to streamline WRC 2 Pro and WRC 2. This is part of FIA rally director Yves Matton's masterplan to make rallying's various levels more easily understandable. The WRC's second tier will be split into WRC 2 and WRC 3 next season following criticism of this year's WRC2 Pro and WRC2 formula ...Keep reading View the full article

Sainz trailed fellow X-Raid MINI driver Stephene Peterhansel by 1m09s through the first part of the special, before overturning that deficit to a 58-second advantage through the second timed section of the day. Al-Attiyah sat over three minutes behind Sainz at this stage, but a rapid charge through the final 72km saw him provisionally take stage victory by 26 seconds over Sainz. However ...Keep reading View the full article

The Spaniard and co-driver Marc Coma were forced to retire from the stage after breaking the suspension of their Toyota around the 75km mark of Monday's stage. Alonso hit a hole that caused heavy damage to the front suspension of his Hilux. The duo stopped near the road back to Erfoud and was waiting for Toyota's assistance to return to the bivouac. The team confirmed to Motorsport.com ...Keep reading View the full article

The second stage featured a lengthy 385km timed section which traversed through the dunes of Erg Chebbi and Ouzina. Starting out front, Al-Attiyah built a 1m03s lead over X-Raid MINI’s Stephane Peterhansel in the first 48km, before extending his advantage to nearly six minutes through the next three stretches of dunes. The Qatari driver eventually ended up 11m clear of his nearest rival in ...Keep reading View the full article

Teammate Kris Meeke had led early on Friday morning, with Tanak starting on the back foot after a mistake on the rally-opening Oulton Park superspecial. A storming drive on the pair of Friday night stages, Dyfnant and Aberhirnant, then propelled Tanak into a lead he would gradually extend over the next two days. His only other concern was on Saturday afternoon, when a compression ripped the ...Keep reading View the full article

The first stage of the five-leg event ran for a shortened distance of 226km, after the opening loop of 103km had to be dropped because the reconnaissance car found some solar panels that were not there when the route was designed. The remainder of the stage featured rocky terrain and all leading drivers lost time after having to change tyres. 2019 Dakar winner and Toyota driver Al-Attiyah ...Keep reading View the full article

Tanak suffered a scare early on Sweet Lamb when a compression ripped the rear bumper off his Toyota Yaris WRC, which meant he “couldn’t hear anything” co-driver Martin Jarveoja was saying. However, Tanak appeared relatively unaffected on the following test and conceded only 0.4s to Neuville, though at one point had been 1.5s ahead of Hyundai’s lead driver. Neuville is now in second ...Keep reading View the full article

Following an invitation to tender released by the FIA earlier this year, Kreisel will develop and supply a kit that can be retro-fitted to existing World RX Supercars, or built into new machines - a similar concept to the Projekt E support series that will run at World RX events for the first-time next season. The statement issued by the WMSC revealed that the Kreisel World RX kit will include ...Keep reading View the full article

Evans had lost nearly a minute on Friday with damaged suspension after contact with a bank on Elsi but surged back up the leaderboard with three stage wins, though crucially Tanak was second-fastest on each occasion. Most of Tanak’s morning gains came on the first test, Dyfi, gaining 2.4s to help boost his overall advantage to seven seconds over Citroen’s six-time world champion. Ogier ...Keep reading View the full article

Tanak benefitted from running first on the road for Dyfnant, winning the stage by 5.7s from Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen in near-daylight conditions. Luck was also on Tanak’s side as damaged wires meant his lights weren’t working on Dyfnant, requiring roadside repairs to get them restored for the fully-dark Aberhirnant test, which he also won. Reigning champion Sebastien Ogier went third ...Keep reading View the full article

Fastest times on both Elsi and Penmachno - the afternoon loop's two full-length stages - launched Citroen driver Ogier forwards from the fifth place in which he had ended the morning. He is now just 1.5 seconds behind Meeke heading to the after-dark runs through Dyfnant and Aberhirnant that conclude the day. Thierry Neuville was quickest on the short Slate Mountain stage and is still in ...Keep reading View the full article

Though Meeke didn't win any of the loop's four stages, his consistently quick pace meant he heads for service with a six-second lead over Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville. Meeke managed to get his advantage up to nine seconds across the opening Elsi and Penmachno stages before a quick spin on Dyfnant meant his cushion was cut to 4.8s. By that point, his teammate Ott Tanak had surged up to ...Keep reading View the full article

Crews were greeted with an extremely wet and slippery stage for Oulton's first appearance on a WRC itinerary since 1993, with the 2.25-mile mix of asphalt and gravel proving ideal for R5 machinery to upstage World Rally Cars. Solberg is marking the end of his professional career by contesting Rally GB - which he won four times - alongside his teenage son Oliver, both driving WRC2 Volkswagens ...Keep reading View the full article