Rally

Alonso faces his first major test in his fledging cross-country rallying career in the five-day event based around Fez, the traditional warm-up event for next January's Dakar. It follows his first competitive taste of the discipline in last month's Lichtenburg 400, in which the Spaniard and his co-driver Marc Coma finished 16th after suffering an early roll and two broken windscreens in his ...Keep reading View the full article

Germany's Bostalsee-based round had been expected to be dropped, but was saved at the expense of Catalunya. Germany does, however, move from a summer date to mid-October. Rally GB is also on the move, heading back to its more traditional date with a Sunday finish on the first day of November. The series concludes with Rally Japan for the WRC's first return to that country since ...Keep reading View the full article

The 36-year-old Spaniard told Motorsport.com that he feels comfortable and happy with the Korean manufacturer, whose line-up he has been part of since 2014. “It’s very close with Hyundai,” Sordo said. “For me it’s close because I feel really good with the people, they respect me a lot, they consider me in everything. "For me I am happy with [Hyundai Motorsport director Andrea] ...Keep reading View the full article

The C3 WRC led for 15 out of 17 stages on the rough roads around Marmaris last weekend, with Ogier leading home teammate Esapekka Lappi - the Finn securing his second runner-up spot in three rallies following a similar result at home in Finland. A disappointing Rally Germany performance - where Ogier and Lappi finished seventh and eighth after suffering with understeer - remains fresh in the ...Keep reading View the full article

Alongside recently-confirmed navigator Marc Coma, Alonso endured a turbulent start to his off-road career in the two-day Lichtenburg 400, a round of the South African Cross Country Series, as he gears up for a potential Dakar Rally debut next January. After completing the 55km Prologue stage on Friday third fastest, only 32 seconds off the pace, Alonso suffered a roll 27km into the 190km ...Keep reading View the full article

Hansen placed 15th overall after the opening day at the Bikernieki circuit in Riga, following retirement from Q2 after turn one contact with European Champion Robin Larsson. As bone dry conditions turned to full wet on Sunday morning for the remaining two qualifiers, Hansen was set the best time in Q3 and Q4 to climb to second in the Intermediate Classification, behind points lead Andreas ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier took the rally lead from Citroen teammate Esapekka Lappi at the end of Saturday's running and continued to pull out time over the Finn across Sunday’s four stages, finally taking victory by 34.7 seconds. The reigning champion could only managed third on the rally-closing Power Stage however, while title rival Ott Tanak swept up the maximum five points, which leaves Ogier still trailing ...Keep reading View the full article

The GCK driver beat points leader Andreas Bakkerud to race victory in the first session of the weekend and in the overall times. Championship contender Kevin Hansen set the third best time having started from an outside grid slot and taken he lead of his race at the first corner, while a similarly good launch propelled Bakkerud’s RX Catel teammate Liam Doran into the lead of his race in ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier’s afternoon got off to the perfect start as he won the Yesibelde stage for a second time, having won the same stage in the morning, and closed the gap to Lappi down to 2.2s. The 2018 WRC champion was fourth-fastest on the following test, Datca, gaining 6.9s on his teammate and taking the lead as Lappi made a small mistake towards the end of the stage. Lappi fought back brilliantly to ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier started the day 17.7s behind Lappi, but managed to close the gap to just 2.2s after the second stage of the loop, Datca, having won the day's opener, Yesilbelde. But Lappi fought back to win the final stage of the morning, Kizlan, to extend his lead back to 10 seconds. Thierry Neuville had started the day as the nearest challenger to the Citroen pair, but he lost ground when he rolled ...Keep reading View the full article

Tanak completed SS8 Yesibelde - the first stage of the morning - fifth-fastest despite being the fourth car on the road, and had moved up to seventh in the overall rally standings after championship rival Thierry Neuville's dramas. But the Toyota driver was unable to make it to the start of SS9, with his Yaris breaking down with an electrical problem while he was en route to the start of the ...Keep reading View the full article

Projekt E will run as a support series at selected World RX events next year, using technology developed by Manfred Stohl owned firm STARD (Stohl Advanced Research and Development). The Austrian outfit will provide powertrain kits for the series, that will be installed into existing steel-body, four-wheel drive rallycross Supercar type machines. The powertrain will include three motors, one ...Keep reading View the full article

Lappi excelled on the rain-affected second running of the 38km Cetibeli stage in his C3, despite being on the hard tyre which was ill-suited to the cooler wet weather. The Finn set the second fastest time in that stage, behind only Thierry Neuville, who had been forced by a slow puncture to change to three medium tyres just before Cetibeli, helping him to set a time 7.6s quicker than ...Keep reading View the full article

Hansen is filming in Greece for the Swedish programme Mastarnas mastare (Champion of champions), which pitches 10 retired champions from different sporting disciplines against each other, to be aired next year. The Swede’s Team Hansen MJP squad currently leads the World RX teams’ standings by 33 points, with its drivers, Hansen’s sons Timmy and Kevin, tied for second in the drivers’ ...Keep reading View the full article

Lappi set the fastest time in the Cetibeli stage – 5.6s quicker than second-placed Andreas Mikkelsen – and fifth-fastest in the final stage of the morning was enough to hold off the charging advances of Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala. Latvala set the pace in two of the three stages included in the loop, but expecting loose rocks on the road he exhibited caution around Cetibeli, dropping 17 ...Keep reading View the full article

Coma, 42, won the Dakar title on two wheels five times for KTM between 2006 and 2015 in a career that spanned the event's African and South American eras, and stood down from active competition following his final title. He then joined the Dakar organisation itself as sporting director, a role he filled for three editions before quitting following the 2018 event. Coma was alongside Alonso ...Keep reading View the full article

The test came as part of a track day at Navarra in Spain featuring a number of cars from McLaren CEO Zak Brown's collection. Both current McLaren driver Sainz, and his two-time World Rally Champion father of the same name, cut laps in the ex-Holden Racing Team VE Commodore. Brown, who now owns the car, has also been behind the wheel today. "Everyone loved it, it's such a fun car to ...Keep reading View the full article

The Australian returned to the seat of a Red Bull KTM at the Atacama Rally last week, marking his first serious outing since undergoing post-Dakar surgery on his badly injured wrist. He was competitive throughout the five-stage event, triumphing on the gruelling 300-plus kilometre fourth test. Price was ultimately classified fourth overall, behind winner Pablo Quintanilla, also returning ...Keep reading View the full article

The WRC legend and two-time Dakar winner will make his second consecutive start at the wheel of a Mini John Cooper Works Buggy, having switch over to the X-raid outfit after Peugeot halted its works programme in the wake of his victorious run in the 2018 rally. Sainz had been weighing up his options for the 2020 race, with Toyota having expressed an interesting in the Spaniard's services, but ...Keep reading View the full article

Tidemand, 28, returns to M-Sport for next week’s Rally Turkey and is now confirmed for Rally GB on October 3-6 alongside team regulars Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen. The former WRC2 and Asia-Pacific Rally Champion has only competed in Wales three times, but he has a strong record, winning his class in a Skoda twice and finishing second on the other occasions. Tidemand, who finished ...Keep reading View the full article