Rally

Kristoffersson set the fastest time in both of Saturday’s qualifiers to head the field. He took the lead of his Q1 race from the middle starting position, the reigning champion edging left on the run to turn one, making himself space to ensure track position at corner entry. His PSRX Volkswagen team mate Petter Solberg had also led his Q1 race but had a half spin entering the chicane ... Keep reading View the full article

Takale will drive a Ford Fiesta R2 in Rally Finland, which takes place on July 26-29 and is considered the fastest on the WRC calendar.He will team up with British co-driver Darren Garrod and his car will be maintained by Latvia-based Baltic Motorsport Promotion.Takale was reported to foray into one of the three WRC categories earlier this year and has taken part in several European ... Keep reading View the full article

This comes after weeks of uncertainty about the event next January, as the Andean country’s government questioned the economic requirements of holding the Dakar, both in terms of investment in infrastructure and security – as well as the fee that Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) would charge them.In a Facebook post, the organisation confirmed the presence of the ... Keep reading View the full article

Raikkonen's F1 future is uncertain as Ferrari leans towards replacing him with Charles Leclerc for 2019.Though Motorsport.com understands from well-placed sources that recent stories linking Raikkonen to a WRC return with Toyota were "completely blown up", Makinen has made clear the door is open for a test."He hasn't tested anything now, but why not?" he told Motorspor ... Keep reading View the full article

FIA president and former WRC co-driver Jean Todt has long pushed for the Kenyan event to return to the schedule for the first time since 2002. On Thursday WRC Promoter managing director Oliver Ciesla, Kirimi Peter Kaberia, the principal secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Sports and Heritage, and Phineas K ... Keep reading View the full article

Last month, Dakar organiser ASO announced a 2019 route taking place entirely inside Peru, following Bolivia's withdrawal and Chile dropping out of a planned return at the last minute.It has emerged the agreement made between ASO and the Peruvian government is merely a preliminary document, with a final agreement needing to be made no later than June 30.However, several media outlets ... Keep reading View the full article

Wurz will join World RX race-winner Toomas Heikkinen for the Latvian round in September, driving the MJP Racing Team Austria Ford Fiesta Supercar in which he made his debut in Hell. The former grand prix podium finisher and two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner finished 18th in Norway, initially struggling with the start procedure that caused jump starts in his first two qualifying ... Keep reading View the full article

Meeke was dropped by Citroen ahead of the last WRC round in Italy following recent crashes.Ostberg is well known to Citroen, having driven for its factory team in 2014 and '15 before returning for a three-round deal this season.That programme finished in Italy, but Ostberg has now picked up Meeke's drive and is confirmed for the rest of the season bar Catalunya in October - where he ... Keep reading View the full article

Sainz, 56, secured his second Dakar triumph in January on what was Peugeot's swan song outing in the South American event, beating Toyota's Nasser Al-Attiyah by 43 minutes.The two-time World Rally champion has been weighing up his future options since, with moves to both the Toyota Gazoo Racing outfit and the X-raid Mini team a possibility for the 2019 Dakar.Sainz tested both the ... Keep reading View the full article

The French outfit took its World RX programme in-house for 2018, having previously run in partnership with Kenneth Hansen’s Hansen Motorsport concern.Announcing pre-season that it would introduce developments throughout 2018, Peugeot Sport director Bruno Famin believes the car set to be introduced for the Holjes event in two weeks’ time will be the single biggest upgrade of the ... Keep reading View the full article

The WRC teams met during last week's Alghero-based event and Motorsport.com understands a letter to Todt was talked about, but ultimately dismissed by the group. But there remains significant disquiet about the logistical effort to get to the island and the absence of sufficient reward in terms of promotional value from the rally. Last week's Rally Italy was, once again, poorly supported ... ... Keep reading View the full article

The WRC teams met during last week's Alghero-based event and Motorsport.com understands a letter to Todt was talked about, but ultimately dismissed by the group.But there remains significant disquiet about the logistical effort to get to the island and the absence of sufficient reward in terms of promotional value from the rally.Last week's Rally Italy was, once again, poorly ... Keep reading View the full article

Meeke, who had been hired to lead Citroen's title challenge in its factory WRC return with the C3, was dismissed between the last two rounds in what the team called a safety-related decision following recent large accidents.But Toyota driver Latvala was one of several WRC contenders who spoke out in Meeke's defence."It's a shock," Latvala told Motorsport.com. "This isn't something we ... Keep reading View the full article

Toyota's Ott Tanak had to retire from third place on Rally Italy last week after an incident on what many felt was a badly built jump on the Monte Baranta stage.Tanak's Yaris WRC slammed nose-first into the road, damaging the cooling system.WRC champion Sebastien Ogier led calls for a uniform approach to building jumps on stages."We all agreed as drivers, it's not clever to build ... Keep reading View the full article

A weekend-long battle between reigning champion Ogier and current points leader Neuville was only settled on the concluding Power Stage, where the Belgian's fastest time gave him overall victory by just 0.7 seconds.That win extends Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul's championship lead to 27 points over Ogier and his partner Julien Ingrassia heading into the WRC's mid-season ... Keep reading View the full article

Gill started the round with the 10th fastest time in Thursday’s shakedown, before carrying on the strong pace into Friday morning.However, towards the end of SS5, Gill landed nose-first at a jump section, heavily damaging the frontal part of his Ford Fiesta R5. The incident forced him to sit out of the Friday afternoon loop.“The car had been going well and I was finding a rhythm,” he ... Keep reading View the full article

The World Rally Championship title contender was beaten to the win by series leader Thierry Neuville, who snatched victory on the final stage.Moments before that turnaround, Ogier had left the end of the penultimate stage without the timecard that keeps a record of his progress.He was ordered by rally organisers to remain in position and wait for the vital piece of paperwork to be ... Keep reading View the full article

The Frenchman left the end of the penultimate stage without the timecard - the vital paperwork which keeps a running record of the progress of the Ford Fiesta WRC through the controls – aboard his car.With handling the timecard normally a task for co-driver Julien Ingrassia, Ogier said: "I never touched a timecard in my whole life, it didn’t happen again today - you are asking the ... Keep reading View the full article

The Volkswagen driver set the fastest time in each of the four qualifying sessions before winning semi-final one and the final from the front to take maximum points and further extend his advantage at the top of the table.Mattias Ekstrom made it into the semi-finals by the skin of his teeth, he was given a five-second penalty for contact with Petter Solberg at the joker lap entry in ... Keep reading View the full article

The duo was closely matched for the majority of Rally Italy, with M-Sport Ford's Ogier taking the lead in Friday afternoon's SS7.He led throughout Saturday but was under massive pressure from Neuville, with the gap between them remaining under 10 seconds during the afternoon.They were separated by 3.9s before Sunday's four stages, and Neuville continued to apply the pressure.The ... Keep reading View the full article