Rally

Meeke was running third heading into the Power Stage, but clipped something on the inside of a right-hander that instantly broke the front-right corner of his Yaris. Sebastien Ogier was promoted into third, with Tanak’s winning margin over Neuville standing at 15.9s. Ogier remains the championship leader by two points after winning the Power Stage. Tanak was third fastest after backing off ...Keep reading View the full article

Despite starting the leg just 4.3 seconds apart, both Toyota drivers were preoccupied with keeping Hyundai’s Neuville behind them rather than fighting each other. Meeke managed to grab two seconds from Tanak on the opening stage of the day, but Tanak responded on the following two to extend his gap over Meeke - before the Northern Irishman spun his Yaris on the second pass of Montim and ...Keep reading View the full article

Latvala had carved 12.2 seconds out of Tanak’s lead on Saturday morning after selecting a harder tyre compound than his immediate rivals, but his work was undone on the afternoon’s first stage when a damper gave way on his Yaris WRC. The Finn only lost nine seconds in the initial test, but haemorrhaged 56.7s on the second stage of the loop before having to retire ahead of the final stage in ...Keep reading View the full article

Tanak’s morning was not plain-sailing, as the Estonian “f***ed” the brakes aboard his Yaris to lose nine seconds to SS8 winner Kris Meeke. His lead gap was reduced from 17.3s to 11.3s over Latvala, but after some quick roadside repairs Tanak was back on the pace on SS9 Cabeceiras de Basto. Latvala opted for two hard tyres whereas his teammates went for mediums all round, which began to ...Keep reading View the full article

The Austrian firm, creators of the world’s first four-wheel drive electric rallycross prototype, codenamed HIPER, has announced that it will exclusively supply powertrain kits to the new series, which is set to start as a support class to the World Rallycross Championship before 2021. The concept was launched just days after it was revealed that plans to switch World RX to electric cars in ...Keep reading View the full article

Latvala reduced Tanak’s advantage from 6.9 seconds to 5.4s on the first stage of the afternoon, but immediately fell back again on stage five as he “tried to save his tyres” for stage six Arganil. Ultimately Latvala’s couldn’t take advantage as he stalled the engine on stage, dropping to 15.2s behind Tanak ahead of tonight’s superspecial stage. Suninen was set to overhaul Latvala ...Keep reading View the full article

Hyundai’s Sordo was in a class of his own on the opening Lousa stage, stopping the clocks 4.2 seconds faster than Tanak’s Toyota - with both M-Sport’s Teemu Suninen and Tanak’s teammate Jari-Matti Latvala within 0.6s of the Estonian. Tanak immediately responded on the Gois test, clawing 3.9s back from Sordo to trim the Hyundai’s lead to just 0.5s. However, the battle was defused as ...Keep reading View the full article

Former works Hyundai WRC driver Abbring will make his World RX debut with the ES Motorsport squad, for which he conducted most of the sited 1000 kilometres of development running over the winter with its new Skoda Fabia. The squad initially ran reigning European Super1600 Champion Rokas Baciuska in the opening two rounds of the year before splitting with the young driver in the week prior to ...Keep reading View the full article

Neuville has requested the change following the decision to give him a notional time on the second stage of Rally Chile. In that event, Neuville’s SS2 El Puma effort was red-flagged not long after he started, as rally organisers feared his i20 Coupe WRC could catch the official zero cars moving ahead on the test. Neuville drove the majority of the stage non-competitively and was handed a ...Keep reading View the full article

RX Cartel driver Bakkerud set the pace through the final two qualifying sessions on Sunday, and like Hansen won his semi-final to start on the front row of the final. With a pair of new tyres for the front axle of his Audi, Bakkerud made the best launch and began closing the door on pole-sitter Hansen in the braking area into turn one. But without being a full car length ahead, he was forced ...Keep reading View the full article

On the Stowe Circuit layout that suits both the Hansen MJP Peugeot 208 and the neat and tidy driving style of the Hansens, elder sibling Timmy was twice fastest in the opening two qualifying sessions, thanks to well-choreographed first corners between the pair. In Q1, Timmy had started his race on pole with Kevin on the outside of the four-wide grid, and while the younger of the pair made the ...Keep reading View the full article

Hyundai began 2019 intending to field Thierry Neuville and Mikkelsen full-time, with Loeb and Sordo sharing the third entry. But it benched Mikkelsen for Corsica after his poor start to the year and has now done so again for the next round in Portugal. Hyundai will introduce updates to the i20 Coupe WRC in Finland, which is where the WRC season resumes after its summer break at the start ...Keep reading View the full article

The confirmation of Liverpool as a start venue and the Cheshire circuit as the opener – along with the service park being moved from Deeside to Llandudno and a new Colwyn Bay stage on Saturday evening – are the main revisions to the route for 2019. Oulton Park returns to the Rally GB timetable for the first time since 1993. Motorsport UK chief executive Hugh Chambers said: “We feel ...Keep reading View the full article

The Korean team announced its decision to bench the Norwegian for the second time in four rallies on Tuesday. Mikkelsen will return to the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC for the following Rally of Italy. Team director Andrea Adamo said: "This decision was not taken lightly. We need to move forward as a team and make the most effective use of our versatile crew line-up. Sebastien and Daniel [Elena ...Keep reading View the full article

The 2020 calendar will be discussed at Friday's meeting of the WRC Commission in Geneva. Corsica and Germany are expected to drop off the calendar to make way for returns to Japan and Kenya, putting more pressure on European events to earn the right to be on the calendar. For Rally GB to retain one of those slots, the WRC Promoter favours a move to Northern Ireland next season, followed by a ...Keep reading View the full article

Neuville's accident - which hospitalised he and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul - cost him third on the event at the time and the WRC points lead. He is now behind rivals Sebastien Ogier and Ott Tanak. Despite the severity of the crash - rated by Neuville as one of the biggest of his career - he is confident he will be straight back up to speed when he gets back into an i20 Coupe WRC for a test in ...Keep reading View the full article

Last month, it was revealed that the 2020 edition of the Dakar will take place in Saudi Arabia, marking a shift away from the South American continent for the first time since 2007. It will also signify the second year in succession that the rally-raid has taken place within the borders of one country, after this year's event was held entirely within Peru. Although Saudi Arabia has a ...Keep reading View the full article

The Northern Irishman rolled his Toyota Yaris WRC on SS7 and was forced to remove the screen, fearing the glass would come into the car and injure him and co-driver Seb Marshall on the next stage. The stewards’ decision stated: “The crew removed their smashed windscreen in the control area between TC8 (Time Control 8) and start SS8. That contravened Article 42.1.2 of the FIA WRC sporting ...Keep reading View the full article

Toyota’s team leader Tanak moved into the lead of the rally on stage two and didn’t look back, extending his lead to over half a minute on Saturday. That margin of victory was whittled down to 23.1s at the finish, saving tyres on Sunday morning for a glory run on the Power Stage, which he won to secure a maximum possible haul of 30 points. Ogier had been under pressure from Loeb ...Keep reading View the full article

The Russian driver started on the second row of the grid for the final at Spa, but led after the opening corner when pole-sitter Andreas Bakkerud ran rallycross returnee Joni Wiman wide into Turn 1, having made a poor getaway from the lower-grip grid position slot. Timerzyanov had pressured Bakkerud throughout their semi-final encounter but with the positions reversed on the road in the final ...Keep reading View the full article