Rally

Martins Sesks will return to the World Rally Championship’s top flight this year after securing a six-round programme with M-Sport-Ford. The highly-rated Latvian impressed in outings in Poland, Latvia and Chile after making the leap to Rally1 with the Ford squad last year, as part of a programme supported by the WRC Promoter. A run to fifth driving a non-hybrid powered Puma in Poland was ...Keep readingView the full article

The Dakar Rally has claimed its first high-profile victims, and the chequered flag has fallen on the Dubai 24 Hours with victory claimed by the Al Manar Racing by WRT BMW. After a brief lull while gravy-soaked turkey and pigs-in-blankets were consumed, motorsport is well and truly back. The year ahead promises numerous talking points across the spectrum of categories. From Formula 1's most ...Keep readingView the full article

Henk Lategan extended his lead at the top of the overall Dakar Rally standings with a dominant performance on Stage 8. The factory Toyota driver finished the test in 4h49m54s, though was docked two minutes after finishing for a speed violation, to finish 1m47s ahead of team-mate Guy Botterill and 4m4s ahead of Century driver Mathieu Serradori. Stage 7 winner Lucas Moraes opened the track in ...Keep readingView the full article

Thierry Neuville is hopeful Hyundai will debut its highly anticipated revised 2025 World Rally Championship car at Rally Sweden next month. Hyundai has spent much of last season developing a significant upgrade to its i20 N Rally1 car for 2025, but confirmed late last year that it would begin the new season in Monte Carlo next week with its 2024 car – minus the hybrid power unit, as per the ...Keep readingView the full article

Dacia Sandriders driver Nasser Al-Attiyah has revealed he has sent a letter to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem over his grievances from this year's Dakar Rally. The five-time event winner was left aggrieved by a 10-minute penalty when finishing fastest on Stage 5, a lost spare wheel taking away his 9m59s advantage at the end of the test to leave him one second adrift of the stage win in ...Keep readingView the full article

The director of the Dakar Rally personally made sure competitors were able to find the correct route on Stage 7 after a mistake was found in the roadbook. Several drivers struggled to validate a waypoint a third of the way into Sunday’s 418km test in Al Duwadimi, with many going off course as they religiously followed the roadbook supplied by organiser ASO. It was later discovered that the ...Keep readingView the full article

Toyota’s Lucas Moraes beat Ford rival Mattias Ekstrom to score victory on Stage 7 of Dakar Rally, as Henk Lategan’s advantage was almost entirely eliminated. Competitors faced a shorter 418km test around Al Duwadimi on Sunday, with the organisers having adjusted the route and the start timing to ensure medical helicopters could be deployed. A surprise bout of rain made the terrain even ...Keep readingView the full article

Dacia driver Nasser Al-Attiyah has questioned FIA’s decision to prevent Ford rival Carlos Sainz Sr from completing the 2025 Dakar Rally on safety grounds. Sainz Sr and Al-Attiyah’s team-mate Sebastien Loeb were forced out of Dakar at the start of this week after suffering damage to their roll cages in separate accidents. That eliminated two of the pre-rally favourites from the Ultimate ...Keep readingView the full article

Guillaume de Mevius led a 1-2 finish for X-raid Mini on Stage 6 of Dakar Rally, as Henk Lategan’s lead in the overall standings was slashed to seven minutes. As Dakar resumed after a rest day in Ha’il, competitors faced a 605km test en route to Al Duwadimi, but with a special 171km transfer section in the middle during which they were not timed. Toyota driver Guy Botterill established ...Keep readingView the full article

The Dakar Rally has announced that the route for Sunday’s Stage 7 has been modified to ensure the safety of competitors taking part in the event. With rain expected to hit the Al Duwadimi region where the seventh stage of 2025 is scheduled, organising body the ASO has decided to delay the start of the running as well as shorten the route. This would ensure that safety helicopters can be ...Keep readingView the full article

Sebastien Ogier believes crews will arrive at the World Rally Championship season opener “less prepared than ever” following the introduction of new tyres and hybrid-less cars for 2025. Ogier is once again gearing up to start a partial WRC campaign with Toyota, beginning with this month’s season opener in Monte Carlo - an event he has won a record nine times. This week the eight-time ...Keep readingView the full article

In order to create a more balanced field in the Dakar Rally, the FIA has introduced a Torque Meter this year. Motorsport.com caught up with the governing body's cross-country director Jerome Roussel to find all the secrets behind it. What is a Torque Meter and how does it work? The Torque Meter is a sensor located inside the gearbox that measures the power reaching the wheels. In case the ...Keep readingView the full article

The FIA has defended its decision to prevent Carlos Sainz Sr and Sebastien Loeb from completing the 2025 Dakar Rally after both sustained roll cage damage to their cars. Two of the most high-profile drivers in this year’s Ultimate field were thrown out following separate rollovers in the opening three stages of the event. Although both Sainz Sr and Loeb were able to recover from their crashes ...Keep readingView the full article

Dacia driver Nasser Al-Attiyah has lost his victory in Stage 5 of the Dakar Rally due to a time penalty, with Toyota rival Seth Quintero promoted to the top spot. Five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah had dominated the fifth test between Al'Ula and Ha'il on Thursday to win by 9m59s, but a 10-minute time drop for losing a spare wheel has left him a second behind Quintero. Dacia has a novel system ...Keep readingView the full article

Dacia driver Nasser Al-Attiyah bounced back from mechanical issues to win the fifth stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally on Thursday and climb up to fourth in the overall standings. Having lost half an hour with a puncture and a broken rear suspension on Wednesday, the Qatari driver dominated the 428km test between Al-Ula and Ha’il to put himself firmly back in contention for the overall ...Keep readingView the full article

M-Sport is likely to expand its World Rally Championship entries at selected events this season after securing Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean to full-time drives for 2025. The Ford squad has once again opted for a youthful line-up this year after retaining the services of Munster following his first full-time campaign last year, while Irish rising star McErlean makes the leap to Rally1 from ...Keep readingView the full article

The Autosport Awards, motorsport's most prestigious awards evening, today announced that Qiddiya will be the presenting sponsor for 2025. This sponsorship includes the inaugural Business Exchange, which will take place on the morning of the awards celebration. The newly reimagined Autosport Awards will take place on January 29, 2025, at London's iconic Roundhouse, bringing together elite ...Keep readingView the full article

Hero rider Jose Ignacio Cornejo has hit out at Dakar Rally organisers over certain errors in the new digital roadbook introduced in the bikes category for the first time this year. Cornejo was one of a number of riders to lose time because of roadbook issues in the early part of 2025 Dakar in Saudi Arabia, leaving him almost 10 minutes behind overall leader Daniel Sanders of KTM. Australian ...Keep readingView the full article

Dacia has given up hope on nine-time World Rally Championship Sebastien Loeb returning to the Dakar Rally following his forced exit from the event. The FIA had not authorised Loeb to start the fourth test of 2025 on Wednesday after the roll cage of his Dacia Sandrider was found to have been damaged in a barrel roll in stage three on Tuesday. Dacia had subsequently appealed against the ...Keep readingView the full article

Yazeed Al-Rajhi claimed an emphatic victory in Stage 4 of Dakar Rally to move to second in the overall standings behind Henk Lategan, as Nasser Al-Attiyah hit trouble. Having lost a heap of time in the third test of the rally on Tuesday, the local Saudi Al-Rajhi hit back in the 415km test between Al Henakiyah and Al-Ula to re-establish himself as one of the outright favourites. Driving a ...Keep readingView the full article