Rally

Neuville and Ogier were engaged in a last-gasp battle for victory at Rally Monte Carlo and resumed their fight on Sweden’s 1.2-mile Karlstad superspecial, although the Citroen driver was second fastest after running wide at the final corner. The wet, slushy snow reduced grip for all the drivers and created deep ruts. Andreas Mikkelsen, completed the podium places after the short opening ...Keep reading View the full article

Reining European Rallycross Champion Reinis Nitiss will join returning regular drivers Timur Timerzyanov and Niclas Gronholm in the squad, while also working in a development driver role behind the scenes. The GRX squad increased its World RX programme to two cars for 2018 with ex-WRC i20s and Gronholm Jnr was regularly the best of the non-works drivers, narrowly missing out on a podium finish ...Keep reading View the full article

The start line for the new 913-metre track will be located on the outside of the Formula 1 circuit, with the first corner a left-hander running on to the Grand Prix track before Eau Rouge after a short straight on gravel. Cars will then travel through Eau Rouge, before climbing up to Raidillon, where a left-hand hairpin will take the track back down the hill towards Eau Rouge, then turn right ...Keep reading View the full article

Established European rounds of the series are coming under threat from events like the Safari and Rally Japan – both of which are expected to join the WRC next year at the expense of European events – and Todt says sharing events could be a way forward. The first two WRC rounds of the season are shared, between Monte Carlo and France on round one and Sweden and Norway on round two. Ireland ...Keep reading View the full article

Former World Rally Championship podium-finisher Galli debuted the first version of the Rio Supercar at his home round at Franciacorta in 2015 and subsequently sold the machine to Hungarian driver Lukacs Kornel for the 2017 season. The Italian says the new version of the car, which has its cooling package mounted in the front like the title-winning Volkswagen Motorsport-built Polos, features ...Keep reading View the full article

26-year old-Bennett graduated to World RX events last season after only a year in the sport, racing the freshly-built Mini Cooper Supercar that was revealed at the Autosport International Show. The former motocross rider competed in all but three of the World RX rounds last term, using the campaign as a development year for both the car and driver, while also competing in the Americas ...Keep reading View the full article

Details and outlined regulations for the next generation of cars will be revealed this year, with FIA president Jean Todt admitting to his own frustration at the slow progress towards a sustainable future in the WRC. Todt said: “Myself, I’m completely in favour of taking into account the evolution of motoring for rallying. And clearly it is a big frustration for me not to see that rallying ...Keep reading View the full article

By user ChristopherSharp on Motorsport Fans Saved, what do you mean, saved? Sebastian Ogier has just won the Monte Carlo Rally by a mere 2.4 seconds from Thierry Neuville. The WRC runs 380bhp be-winged cars that are exciting the fans on site and online? What does it need ‘saving’ from? Answer? The Sheep and Wolf complex in modern motorsport viewing consumption. In recent years there ...Keep reading View the full article

Hyundai Motorsport has worked through the night to rebuild the i20 Coupe WRC for Andreas Mikkelsen’s test on Friday. The team doesn’t expect to lose any testing time due to the accident. A spokesman from the team confirmed the accident, which happened on one of the Frenchman’s final runs of the day. Sources in the area of northern Sweden where Hyundai is testing stated the car hit a ...Keep reading View the full article

Created last year by World Rallycross promotor IMG following the demise of the American-based Global Rallycross Championship, the series held four events in 2018, three partnered with World RX events. For this season, ARX will only join World RX for its Canadian event at Trois-Rivieres in August, following the opening round of the campaign at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in June, and the ...Keep reading View the full article

Hyundai driver Neuville finished runner-up to the Citroen C3 of Sebastien Ogier, but Ott Tanak had led the rally on Thursday evening and was third on Friday until he had to change a tyre on a stage. That dropped Tanak to seventh, more than two and a half minutes off the lead, but the Toyota driver reeled off six-straight stage wins on Saturday and Sunday morning and recovered to finish ...Keep reading View the full article

Bottas contested last weekend's Arctic Lapland Rally in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC in association with the Finnish governing body's Flying Finn project to support young drivers, the Finnish Rally Championship and AKK-Motorsport. Run by M-Sport engineers and co-driven by two-time WRC champion Timo Rautiainen, Bottas recorded one stage win on his way to fifth overall. Team principal Rich ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier defeated Thierry Neuville in a final-stage showdown to win the opening round of the 2019 WRC season by 2.2 seconds on his first rally since returning to the Citroen squad. He had started the final day with 4.3s in hand over the Hyundai driver but reported a "small issue" at the end of Sunday's first loop. Ogier then revealed that this was related to his throttle after dropping ...Keep reading View the full article

Making his first start since rejoining Citroen for 2019, Ogier took the lead on the second of Friday afternoon's three stages and did not relinquish it thereafter. But that did not represent how close the battle between the six-time champion and chief rival Neuville was, with the Hyundai driver never more than 5.8 seconds in arrears on Saturday or Sunday. Ogier consolidated his lead on ...Keep reading View the full article

Just 3.2 seconds separates the pair with two stages of the rally to run, while Ott Tanak continued his recovery and has moved ahead of Sebastien Loeb and Jari-Matti Latvala into third in his Toyota Yaris. Ogier and Neuville started the morning loop separated by 4.3s in the classification, but Neuville appeared faster on the opening test - the 11.30-mile La Bollene Vesubie-Peira Cava test - and ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier had taken a pair of softer tyres in comparison to Neuville but the effect was negligible, as he dropped just 1.2s during Agnieres en Devoluy-Corps and gained 0.2s back one stage later. Neuville claimed he had left pace in reserve after the first of those stages in which he had beaten Ogier but admitted he had no answer for the reigning champion in the second. But the star of Saturday ...Keep reading View the full article

Tyre choice gambles from Friday were taken out of the equation, with four studded tyres and two softs taken by all leading crews, meaning gaps were much tighter on both stages this morning compared to the rally’s previous tests. Citroen driver Ogier still managed to take 3.6s out of Neuville in the opening Agnieres en Devoluy-Corps stage, but the Hyundai man pulled 0.3s back immediately ...Keep reading View the full article

Ogier, who is making his first World Rally Championship start since returning to the Citroen fold, started the afternoon loop 3.4 seconds behind Neuville and should have fallen further behind his rival on the icy Valdrome-Sigottier test. But Neuville carried too much speed into a bend near the start of that stage and had to take to an escape road, which left him close to 20s behind Ogier at the ...Keep reading View the full article

Makinen called for all three stages to be called off after it became clear Friday's opening one would be canned, stating it would be unfair to hand an advantage to a driver who had geared their tyre selection to the morning's second and third tests. Matton pointed out that the decision to cancel stages lay with the Automobile Club de Monaco and specifically the clerk of the course. The FIA's ...Keep reading View the full article

The first stage of the loop was cancelled due to concerns over spectator safety, a decision that left Makinen furious as his team had based its tyre selection around the test. Overnight leader Tanak slipped two places through the loop, with rivals Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier passing him to run first and second. Tanak, like his fellow Toyota drivers, had selected four studded tyres ...Keep reading View the full article