Rally

The WRC has undergone a number of rule tweaks ahead of the 2024 season with a new points structure arguably the most significant change.This season, championship points will now be divided into two with points awarded at the end of Saturday followed by a separate points allocation for Sunday. The new system aims to improve the show on the final day of rallies, as drivers had previously cruised ...Keep readingView the full article

Al-Rajhi recorded his best individual stage finish of the 2024 Dakar Rally when he finished second to winner Sebastien Loeb in the 299km special between Al Salamiyah and Al-Hofuf.However, it could have all gone wrong for the Saudi driver at the end of the stage, as he narrowly avoided a head-on collision with a fan. The 42-year old was accelerating to get out of a dune at speed in his customer ...Keep readingView the full article

Ireland’s national motorsport governing body hosted a press conference at its Dublin headquarters on Tuesday to reveal more details of its proposal to bring the WRC back to the country for the first time since 2009, as part of a proposed three-year deal.WRC officials revealed last year at the Acropolis Rally that Ireland was a potential viable candidate to host a future WRC event, confirming ...Keep readingView the full article

Prodrive driver Loeb sat a distant ninth in the general classification heading into the fourth stage in Saudi Arabia, having lost a considerable amount of time on the opening day due to punctures and a broken steering rack - and again on Monday with more tyre troubles.But the Frenchman was finally able to deliver on his potential in the 299km test between Al Salamiya and Al-Hofuf, as he overcame ...Keep readingView the full article

With all competitors sharing the same routes across each stage at the Dakar Rally, it isn’t uncommon for different machinery and classes to cross paths during the competition.But for Tim and Tom Coronel, they were unsighted to Philippe Gendron on his Nomade Racing KTM bike and crashed towards the end of the 438km Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya stage.Read Also: DakarDakar 2024, Stage 3 ...Keep readingView the full article

The FIA has ratified a new points system designed to add extra spice to rallies this season, with points awarded on Saturday and Sunday during an event. Under the new system, a sliding scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 points will be awarded at the end of Saturday, but only if a crew reaches Sunday’s final classification. If a crew fails to finish on Sunday, the Saturday points will be awarded ...Keep readingView the full article

In an ultra-competitive Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya pass covering 438km, which saw the stage lead swap between multiple runners, a four-way victory fight developed between Toyota's Moraes, Audi's Mattias Ekstrom, Overdrive's Al-Rajhi and defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah for Prodrive. With a little over 100km to go, and with mostly dirt tracks left to navigate, the advantage was with Moraes but ...Keep readingView the full article

Riding a Rally2-Spec KTM for the TwinTrail Racing Team, Falcon was involved in a crash 448km into Sunday’s 463km test between Al Henakiyah and Al Duwadimi. Falcon received immediate assistance from a crew that arrived via a medical helicopter, before he had to be airlifted to Al Duwadimi hospital for further treatment.He was initially reported to be in a “serious condition” in a statement ...Keep readingView the full article

Peterhansel had suffered a bruising start to his 35th appearance in Dakar on Saturday, as a spate of punctures left him 30 minutes off the front. But with fewer stones on the 464km stage between Al Henakiyah and Al Duwadimi, the 14-time Dakar winner rose to the fore, scoring a narrow but significant 29-second stage win over Prodrive’s Sebastien Loeb.The Frenchman was already ahead of the field ...Keep readingView the full article

Everything seemed ready for Varela's Dakar debut. A member of a traditional Brazilian motorsport family, the South American Rally Raid champion was preparing to compete for the first time in the biggest rally-raid in the world, alongside navigator Bozzano, when the project suffered a serious blow. During Christmas time with his family in Brazil, Varela received news that the cargo ship carrying ...Keep readingView the full article

Sainz finished second on day one of the Dakar Rally, falling 1m44s short of stage winner Guillaume de Mevius in Saudi Arabia. Numerous drivers suffered problems across the day with Sainz’s report of three punctures in the rocky area positioning the Spaniard as one of the worst affected. "I was losing little [time], so I kept going, and then, at about 15 or 20 kilometres, the stones started ...Keep readingView the full article

De Mevius, who sat a distant 32nd after Friday’s Prologue, made rapid gains over the course of the 414km test between Al-’Ula and Al Henakiyah to overhaul Mattias Ekstrom and then Carlos Sainz Sr (both Audi) to claim his first-ever stage victory in Dakar.It was overnight leader Ekstrom who held the top spot in the early part of the first special, building a lead of over two minutes by the ...Keep readingView the full article

The first stage of the Dakar Rally got off to a dramatic start as the medical helicopter had to come to the aid of Honda rider Joaquim Rodrigues after a crash at the 82km mark.But that was not all in the bike category, as overall leader and one of the favourites for victory, Schareina, went down 240km into the stage later in the day.The Valencian rider, who was in third place, injured his arm in ...Keep readingView the full article

The first stage of Dakar started as it should, with the bikes tackling the 405km timed run to reach the second of the bivouacs at Al Henakiyah. However, the evacuation helicopter was called into action very early on at the 82km mark after Hero rider Joaquim Rodrigues suffered an accident, which Joan Barreda and Sebastian Buhler had to attend to.Shortly afterwards, however, the race was stopped in ...Keep readingView the full article

Last year’s WRC2 runner-up has revealed that he will remain with the Czech marque and the Toksport team that guided Andreas Mikkelsen to the title in 2023. There had been speculation linking the 27-year-old with a move away from Skoda.Greensmith impressed in his first season in the WRC2 since 2019 after spending three years in the top flight with M-Sport-Ford.The Briton scored two WRC2 wins in ...Keep readingView the full article

The newly-crowned two-time WRC2 champion is set to make his first top-level WRC start since 2019, after electing to rejoin Hyundai – the team he competed for from 2017-2019.Mikkelsen is one of three drivers to share Hyundai’s third i20 entry this year, alongside Esapekka Lappi and Dani Sordo, while Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak will pilot the team’s other two entries.However, this wasn’t ...Keep readingView the full article

Audi driver Sainz finished a distant 48th in the 27km stretch in Al-’Ul on Friday, dropping 2m18s to team-mate Mattias Ekstrom who set the fastest time in the sister RS Q e-tron. This means the Spanish driver will start the rally proper on Saturday firmly in the middle of the pack, and will have to pass a number of slower cars during the stage before he has a clear track ahead of himself.In an ...Keep readingView the full article

Lukas Lauda will compete in the T3 class for lightweight vehicles, racing a Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo entered by the South Racing Team.His #347 Can-Maverick has been painted in the same colour scheme as Lauda's McLaren MP4/2 as a tribute to his father who died in 2019 at the age of 70.In addition to the car, Lukas Lauda has designed a very special helmet, with the use of red and white colours ...Keep readingView the full article

The 46th edition of the world’s most prestigious rally-raid kicked off with a short 27km timed run in Al’Ula in the western part of Saudi Arabia on Friday, with the entire section run on sandy terrain.The Prologue, a common feature of Dakar over the years, once again served as a qualifying session of sorts, with the top 10 finishers getting to choose the starting positions of their own choice ...Keep readingView the full article

Five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah is looking to defend his crown driving for Prodrive following a move from Toyota.Speaking ahead of this year’s edition, which begins on Friday, Al-Attiyah was asked if he thought Audi would be his main threat.Audi is set to benefit from an FIA balance of performance shift in the T1.U class for prototype cars using renewable energies – which includes the Audi ...Keep readingView the full article