Rally

The World Rally Championship’s new points system, that is complicated upon first glance, has divided opinion in the service park and among fans. Several drivers voiced their criticism of the revamp in the lead up to the rally, with the most common gripes being that it is too complicated and devalues the victory. Both opinions are of course valid, but these could certainly change in time.The new ...Keep readingView the full article

Breaking into the US market has been identified as a key objective by the WRC, having last hosted a round in North America in 1988 – the Olympus Rally.Last year, plans to revive Rally USA emerged with a brand new event located in Chattanooga in southeast Tennessee, utilising gravel roads located in in the Cherokee National Forest and around the Ocoee River region in Polk County.The planning ...Keep readingView the full article

Christened the Dacia Sandrider, the prototype built in collaboration with Prodrive was formally unveiled at a presentation in Paris by programme director Denis Le Vot.Five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, World Rally legend Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez will serve as Dacia's three factory drivers, as announced last year.During the presentation, Dacia also also revealed that it will ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans started the WRC season opener strongly, winning the opening two stages before going on to lead the rally at the end of Friday.However, on Saturday the Welshman dropped away from the victory fight after losing the feeling behind the wheel of his GR Yaris as the asphalt roads became dirtier. He also lost ground to a hybrid issue on stage 10.While eventual winner Thierry Neuville and ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver challenged for a record-extending 10th Monte Carlo win before ultimately losing a gripping head-to-head to Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by a margin of 16.1s. The second-place finish marked his 13th podium in 15 Monte Carlo event starts.Ogier produced an inspired drive to win six stages, including a 700th career stage victory. However, after setting a fastest time on Friday’s ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville delivered arguably the best drive of his WRC career to defeat nine-time Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier by 16.1s after emerging victorious from an intense head-to-head battle.To underline Neuville’s performance the Hyundai driver claimed a perfect victory, scoring the maximum 30 points under the new-for-2024 points scoring system. The Belgian topped the standings at the end of ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver won nine of the 17 asphalt stages in one of the driest Monte Carlo rallies on record to claim his second win at the famous event, by margin of 16.1 seconds over nine-time victor Ogier.Toyota’s Elfyn Evans completed the podium in third (+45.2s), while Hyundai’s Ott Tanak (+1m59.8s) and M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux (+3m36.9s) filled the top five positions.In addition to ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville set a blistering pace across the morning’s two stages, winning them both to extend his lead over Toyota’s Ogier to 13.5 seconds, with only the Power Stage remaining on Sunday afternoon.Neuville’s impressive pace has also put him at the top of the Sunday standings, where seven points are on offer for the fastest driver as per the new scoring structure.Toyota’s Elfyn Evans remains ...Keep readingView the full article

Hyundai driver Neuville dug deep on the final stage of the day to beat Ogier by 4.1s and reclaim the lead from his Toyota rival to take a 3.3 second advantage into Sunday's stages.A drive that the Belgian called "pure perfection from the beginning to the end" was also enough to earn him a provisional maximum 18 points under the WRC's new-for-2024 points structure.Drivers that reach the finish will ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville started Saturday afternoon with the rally lead, but two stage wins from Ogier, including the Frenchman’s 700th career fastest time, gave the Toyota driver a 0.8s lead over Neuville after the day’s penultimate stage.But Hyundai’s Neuville responded brilliantly to stun Ogier in the final test and move back into a 3.3s lead, which he will take into the final day on Sunday.Neuville also ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver started the morning sitting third but a stunning effort on stage nine, held in tricky frosty conditions, brought the Belgian into the victory fight.Neuville took 18.8s out of Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier to climb to second and was 9.6s quicker than rally leader Elfyn Evans.Neuville then assumed the rally lead on stage 10 before extending that advantage to 5.1s come the end of the ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville headed to midday service with a 5.1s lead over Evans after an impressive morning headlined by a blistering time on stage nine.Nine-time Monte Carlo winner Ogier dropped from second to third, but ended the loop 7.7s adrift.Ott Tanak maintained fourth (+1m18.6s) despite suffering an engine issue on his Hyundai. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux (+2m06.4s) produced a controlled drive to complete ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans will head into Saturday equipped with a 4.5s lead over nine-time Monte Carlo winner Ogier after eight of 17 stages.Given Ogier’s history at his home event, the Frenchman is regarded as a strong favourite to score a 10th event win and ended Friday in the ascendency after slashing the gap to Evans.While Evans admitted he would obviously like to challenge for victory, the Welshman is already ...Keep readingView the full article

Overnight leader Evans started the day with a 21.6s gap over nine-time Monte Carlo winner Ogier but that reduced to 4.5s at the end of stage eight.Nine-time Monte Carlo winner Ogier won three of the day’s six stages, held on tricky dry asphalt roads featuring treacherous icy patches.Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville matched Ogier in the stage win department as the Belgian enjoyed a strong day, minus ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver ended the Friday morning loop in fourth overall more than a minute adrift of rally leader Toyota's Elfyn Evans after losing 41.9s to a spin on stage three.Tanak was caught out by a patch of ice which spun his i20 N into a ditch. The 2019 world champion wasn't the only driver to suffer, as team-mate Thierry Neuville, Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta and M-Sport's Gregoire Munster all ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans successfully navigated through three tricky asphalt stages that featured icy patches to lead nine-time Monte Carlo winner Ogier by 10.7s.Ogier won two of the three tests to haul himself from third to second overall ahead of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who is 24.5s back from Evans. His team-mate Tanak headed to the midday service in fourth more than a minute adrift of the pace after a spin ...Keep readingView the full article

Last year’s championship runner-up blitzed the pair of night stages held in dry conditions to open up a 15.1s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.It proved to be a challenging evening for Hyundai as all three of its entries suffered issues. Ott Tanak battled a throttle problem to end the loop in fourth (+22.8s), behind nine-time Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier (+21.6s) in third.Adrien ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera is unusually absent from this weekend’s entry list event after electing to contest a partial WRC campaign with Toyota as he plans to “recharge his batteries” ahead of a full-time return to the championship in 2025.However, the Finn was present at the ceremonial start at Casino Square in Monaco to take part in the reveal of two special edition Toyota GR Yaris that will go on general ...Keep readingView the full article

Solberg is expected to be among the WRC2 title favourites after inking a deal with Skoda Motorsport direct after finishing sixth in the championship last year, driving the Fabia RS Rally2 car for the Toksport squad last year.The son of 2003 world rally champion Petter Solberg was thought to be among the options under consideration by M-Sport as the British squad looked to re-shape its driver ...Keep readingView the full article

The WRC has introduced a new points structure this year which is designed to spice up rallies particularly on the Sunday, where drivers have previously cruised through the final day preserving tyres for the end of rally Power Stage.Drivers can still earn a maximum of 30 points, but these will be distributed differently this year. Points will be awarded under the scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 to ...Keep readingView the full article