Rally

The story of Cristina Gutierrez is as special as it is unique, and in addition to being one of the references in Spanish motorsport, she will become one of the three drivers who will be in the new Dacia project for the Dakar Rally in 2025. The driver from Burgos will make the leap from the Challenger category to the Ultimate with the aim of making the manufacturer a winner, and will have in the ...Keep readingView the full article

Nine-time World Rally champion Loeb led throughout the 417km test between Ha’il and Al-’Ula on Tuesday to take his fourth stage victory of 2024, beating the Audi of Sainz by 4m14s.The Frenchman’s lead fluctuated throughout the day as the crews navigated a wide variety of terrains, with Sainz closing within 2m35 of the top spot after 348km of racing.However, the Prodrive ace was able to pull ...Keep readingView the full article

The upgraded i20 N has been unveiled sporting a new livery design featuring the South Korean manufacturer’s familiar sky blue and orange factory colours.Hyundai has elected to use homologation jokers to develop its i20N in the off- season, focussing on weight saving to enhance its performance and finding solutions to reliability issues. The team has also announced a new partnership with renowned ...Keep readingView the full article

The British squad took the covers off its 2024 Puma at last week's Autosport International before embarking on its first pre-event test of the season ahead of the Monte Carlo curtain raiser (25-28 January) last weekend.M-Sport scored two wins last year, matching rivals Hyundai, after Ott Tanak triumphed in Sweden and Chile, but a run of reliability issues - engine in Estonia and Finland plus water ...Keep readingView the full article

Comfort, resistance and perfection are what you look for in all kinds of competitions, and when it comes to the toughest race in the world, you have to study to the millimetre which products to use.That's why the vast majority of participants opt for the line of Sparco, an Italian company based in Volpiano, which has created the Seat Circuit, a seat made of carbon fibre that guarantees all that ...Keep readingView the full article

The Catalan, participating in the Dakar for the second time, was involved in an incident a few kilometres from the end of the special stage from Al Henakiyah to Al Duwadimi on 8 January.Falcon, 45, had received immediate assistance before he had to be airlifted to Al Duwadimi hospital for further treatment.Falcón suffered a cerebral oedema due to the fracture of the C2 vertebra, as well as five ...Keep readingView the full article

Following up on his third stage win at this year’s event, Loeb looked set to carve more time out of Sainz’s overall advantage as he led the Spaniard by three minutes, and nearest rival Ekstrom by one minute, entering the final 100km of the Al Duwadimi to Ha’il stage.But on the all-dirt track run to the stage finish, Loeb dropped over 10 minutes to his rivals to undo all his strong work and ...Keep readingView the full article

Vasselon, 60, has been succeeded on a temporary basis by David Floury as the technical chief of the Cologne-based organisation that masterminds Toyota's World Endurance Championship programme, develops the engines for its World Rally Championship GR Yaris Rally 1 and builds the GR Supra GT4 customer racer. The move announced on Monday was described in a short statement from TGR-E as part of a ...Keep readingView the full article

Formula 1 is in the midst of its off-season, like many other motorsport championships, but it really is not long until racing gets back underway.With the Dakar Rally already well under way, the opening round of the new Formula E season kicked off on Saturday, while the World Rally Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship also start this month.Other racing categories commence again before F1 ...Keep readingView the full article

Loeb made a low-key start to Sunday’s 483km test between Riyadh and Al-Duwadimi, but the nine-time World Rally champion was gradually able to make his way to the front, taking his third stage victory of the year with a margin of 7m06s over Toyota’s Lucas Moraes.Sainz finished fourth behind Nasser Al-Attiyah on what was a relatively tough day for Audi, with Ekstrom stopping twice due to ...Keep readingView the full article

Energylandia driver Goczal had dominated the opening week of Dakar in T3 category, with his performances even earning him a place inside the overall top 10 after the 48-hour Stage 6 on Friday.However, during the rest day in Riyadh, the FIA announced that Goczal has been excluded from the results for using a carbon clutch that has not been not authorised by the stewards. This decision is ...Keep readingView the full article

Last year’s title runner-up joined up with the Toyota squad for a pre-event asphalt test on Friday ahead of the annual Monte Carlo opener from 25-28 January.The outing was the Welshman’s first since suffering a rib injury caused in a bike accident that forced him to miss the end-of-season FIA prize giving in Baku and some test running in Finland last month while he completed his recovery.Evans ...Keep readingView the full article

Although yet to be officially announced, it is widely believed that Audi will pull the plug on its Dakar programme after the 46-edition of the rally-raid ends next week, having made its debut just three years ago in 2022 with RS Q e-tron.Dakar was the last remaining works project for Audi Sport, but it too is expected to face the axe as the German manufacturer begins to divert all its attention ...Keep readingView the full article

Al-Attiyah’s bid for a sixth career win in Dakar took a crushing blow on the 48-hour Stage 6 when his Prodrive Hunter screeched to a halt just before the penultimate waypoint with a broken steering bearing, leaving him stranded in Empty Quarter.The Qatari driver was eventually able to get the car repaired with the assistance from his team, but by the time he reached the final bivouac at ...Keep readingView the full article

The British squad unveiled its bold new livery at the Autosport International Show ahead of the Monte Carlo season opener later this month (25-28 January).This is the latest striking colour scheme to adorn the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 after the team opted for purple and blue liveries in 2022 and 2023 respectively.Prominent branding from energy drinks firm Red Bull remains on the flanks of the car ...Keep readingView the full article

As the 549km test around Shubaytah resumed on Friday, Loeb sat third in the order behind Audi duo Carlos Sainz Sr and Mattias Ekstrom, with 5m19s to make up and only a third of the distance remaining.But the nine-time World Rally Championship was able to overhaul both Audis in little time, jumping Ekstrom at the first checkpoint of the day before surging ahead of Sainz at Bivouac F.The Frenchman ...Keep readingView the full article

Al-Rajhi dropped out of the fight for victory when he crashed into a dune at the start of the 48-hour chrono stage, suffering severe damage to his Toyota Hilux. The Saudi’s troubles worked a treat for Sainz, who had already jumped Nasser Al-Attiyah in the early hours of the day, to reclaim the lead in the overall standings on an exceptionally strong day for Audi.The 48-hour chrono stage that ...Keep readingView the full article

Loubet will drive a Fabia RS Rally2 for the Toksport team alongside the already confirmed Oliver Solberg and Gus Greensmith.Loubet had been linked to a move back to WRC2 in the off-season and is understood to have tested a GR Yaris Rally2 car.Read Also: WRCToyota Rally2 car to make WRC debut in Monte Carlo “The title of WRC2 world champion in 2019 with Skoda Motorsport is ...Keep readingView the full article

Thursday marked the start of the 48-hour Chrono stage, in which drivers have to complete a distance of 549km over two days. Aware of the risks they could face, many took it easy at the start of the stage to ensure they arrived safety at one of the seven camps at 4pm local time, when the day’s action would be halted.However, drama struck overall leader Al-Rajhi at the 51km mark when he suffered a ...Keep readingView the full article

The Al-Hofuf to Shubaytah Stage 5 covered the shortest special stage distance of this year’s Dakar Rally at 118km, to provide small respite before the two-day marathon stage begins tomorrow, which will see competitors stop on Thursday and camp overnight and resume on Friday.The stage was contested entirely on sand dune terrain, with Al-Attiyah quickest throughout in his Nasser Racing-entered ...Keep readingView the full article