Rally

The Frenchman will depart M-Sport Ford World Rally Team following Rally Australia in November and begin testing a C3 WRC soon after. Ogier said: "I'm really enthusiastic about the prospect of taking on this new challenge with Citroen. In fact, I can't wait, especially as I haven't forgotten that this is the team that first gave me the opportunity to compete in the world championship." The ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The British World RX round was held on a new circuit at Silverstone for the first time this year, the Speedmachine Festival including the opening round of the Americas Rallycross Championship and RX2, the single-make support category to World RX. But series promotor IMG has revealed to Motorsport.com that the event is likely to feature on the European Rallycross Championship calendar next ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Drew Feustel, a veteran astronaut currently residing on the International Space Station, gave an 'out of this world' shoutout to the event. "I'd like to wish all the drivers involved in the World Rallycross a great weekend of racing and may the best driver win. I also hope you, the fans, whether you're at the Circuit of the Americas, watching at home on TV, or following on social media, enjoy ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The factory Peugeot driver was one of nine star drivers assembled for the one-off event which formed a part of the Nitro World Games extreme sports competition. Hansen led the two-day event at the end of Saturday, allowing him to skip the second round of heats and advance straight to the semi-final stage of the competition. There he won his race, setting the fastest time of all eight drivers ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The ARX, a feeder series to the FIA World Rallycross Championship, debuted earlier this year in conjunction with its parent series at Silverstone in England. The opening race was won by veteran rally driver Tanner Foust. In a taste of what is to come later this month, the series next headed to the Circuit of the Americas, which hosted both the second round of the season, as well as this ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The Olympic medalist tested ES Motorsport’s new Skoda Fabia Supercar at the Bikernieki circuit in Latvia on Thursday alongside former works Hyundai WRC driver Kevin Abbring, who is currently working as test driver for the squad. The test marked the first time the car, released last month, has been driven on a full rallycross circuit. The squad chose the Riga venue to compare its performance ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The Guerlain Chicherit-owned team ran British driver Liam Doran in the most recent events in France and Latvia after it split with Frenchman Jerome Grosset-Janin. Having initially been driving on an event-by-event basis, Doran has also been retained until the end of the year and will compete in the final round of the Americas Rallycross Championship that runs alongside the American round of ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The Norwegian will join Eric Camilli in a two-car factory team for the debut of the German firm’s all-new Polo GTI R5. Solberg, who won the WRC in 2003 then departed the series bound for rallycross in 2012, is delighted to be making this one-off outing. Solberg said: “I think everybody knows about my passion for rallying and when Sven [Smeets, Volkswagen Motorsport director] asked me if ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Makinen looks increasingly likely to be chasing a replacement for Esapekka Lappi next season – last year’s Rally Finland winner is reckoned to be rapidly closing on a Citroen deal – and he’s already spoken to the Northern Irishman about the potential of a 2019 seat. Makinen told Motorsport.com: “I spoke with Kris, he could be one option, one possibility. We will speak to [Toyota in] ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Heading into the series' summer break in June, Tanak was 72 points behind championship leader Thierry Neuville and 45 off reigning champion Sebastien Ogier. Since then, Tanak has won three rallies rallies in a row in Finland, German and Turkey, with last weekend's event Toyota's first WRC one-two in 20 years as he led home teammate Jari-Matti Latvala. Those results have ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The reigning WRC champion, currently at M-Sport Ford, is expected to reveal his future imminently. Ogier has already made it clear this contract will be his last one before retiring, but there is potential it could stretch as far as three years. "I think it's getting closer," said Ogier of a 2019 contract, while declining to reveal the team involved. "I wanted to know more about the ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Ogier and title rival Thierry Neuville had both suffered suspension problems on their cars on Saturday morning, with the Belgian retiring after a damper burst through the bonnet of his Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC on the opening weekend test. That left Ogier poised to capitalise and the rally victory and a powerstage win would have put him back in the lead of the championship for the first time since ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Breen, who had led Rally Turkey on the opening day before being delayed by damaged tyres, was slowed by smoke coming into the cockpit on the second run through the Datca test on Saturday. He stopped twice to check the car, but continued as he and co-driver Scott Martin were unable to detect the fire. Breen put the car into 'road' mode to reduce under-bonnet temperatures, which stopped the ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Having fended off a fast-starting Mattias Ekstrom at the start of his semi-final to take the lead at turn one and secure a victory that netted pole position for the final, Kristoffersson beat fellow front-row starter Sebastien Loeb into turn one in the final and, after setting the fastest lap of the race on the first tour, led throughout to score his eighth win of the campaign. Loeb, the only ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Tanak took a 13-second lead into the final day, and with his Toyota team calling off the fight with teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, it was simply a case of completing the remaining stages without trouble for the Estonian. He stretched his lead out to 19.7s over the course of the three morning stages and after taking third on the Power Stage he ended up with a final margin of 22.3s over ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The two Yaris WRC drivers are almost a minute clear of Hayden Paddon in third and with Tanak needing every point available to close the gap to championship leader Thierry Neuville, Latvala is not expected to challenge him. Asked about the situation, team principal Tommi Makinen said: “I’m not sure I need to say anything about that. I am sure our drivers have seen already the situation and ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Tanak took the lead of the rally on SS11 as Sebastien Ogier retired and Andreas Mikkelsen hit trouble, while Jari-Matti Latvala slotted into second to make it a Toyota one-two. Latvala managed to reclaim five seconds from Tanak on SS12 but to conclude the loop Tanak edged Latvala by 5.1 seconds on Icmeler to end the day with a 13.1s lead. If he can secure a third win in a row on Sunday ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Kristoffersson won the final race of both Q1 and Q2 to top the order, as Audi driver Mattias Ekstrom set the best time in free practice and Peugeot campaigner Sebastien Loeb ran Kristoffersson close for the fastest time in Q1, before being slowed by accident damage in Q2. Kristoffersson, Ekstrom and Loeb all won their races in Q1, but as Ekstrom couldn’t match the time set in the first race ... ... Keep reading View the full article

M-Sport Ford driver Ogier started SS11 fourth and 46.1s off the lead, but on the rally’s longest stage he’d taken 31 seconds out of leader and Hyundai man Andreas Mikkelsen with half the 34.24km-stage still to go. But TV pictures showed Ogier’s car parked on the outside of a tight right-hander, as the car appeared to be beached off the road and both Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia ... ... Keep reading View the full article

Neuville was the first casualty of a highly dramatic morning, having to retire from the rally lead after breaking his suspension on the opening Yesilbelde stage. Ogier won that stage by a huge 22 seconds and moved into a 25s lead over Mikkelsen, only to sustain suspension damage of his own just minutes after Neuville had given up on his attempts to repair his car on the road section and ... ... Keep reading View the full article