Rally

Tanak has rejoined Hyundai for the 2024 season after leaving the Korean marque for M-Sport Ford in 2023, despite having a year remaining on his Hyundai contract.The 2019 world champion's high-profile return to the Alzenau-based squad has already started positively following a test on rough roads in Fontjoncouse in the south of France.Tanak remarked that the latest Hyundai i20 N features several ...Keep readingView the full article

The 23-year-old is set to have more free time on his hands next year after electing to conduct a partial WRC campaign to recharge his batteries, before returning to full-time competition in 2025.Rovanpera is an admirer of all motorsport and said in his announcement last month that he intends to compete in events outside of rally next year. The Finn is a fan of drifting and was seen contesting ...Keep readingView the full article

It is fair to say Andreas Mikkelsen has been knocking on the door for a return to the World Rally Championship ever since falling out of the top tier in 2019. These knocks have become increasingly louder after winning two WRC2 titles and a European Rally Championship, but still the three-time WRC rally winner felt at times that he would never taste the big time again.After coming so close to a ...Keep readingView the full article

It was announced following the latest meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in Baku that ICE cars would be eligible to contest the pinnacle of rallycross for the first time since 2021, on equal terms with EVs, in what the series has billed as a Battle of Technologies.A maximum of 16 cars will be admitted in 2024, with championship points awarded for each heat race, semi-final and final ...Keep readingView the full article

It is understood that the new points structure will see extra points awarded on Sundays at WRC events in a bid to add an extra dimension to the action of the final day of rallies.This change has been ratified by the FIA at the latest meeting of the World Motor Sport Council which followed Tuesday’s announcement of a new working group to address the future direction of rallying.The exact ...Keep readingView the full article

The FIA has selected the Korean tyre firm as the successful candidate after launching a tender process in July this year for a period covering 2025-2027.Hankook will take over the supply of WRC tyres from Pirelli, which won the previous tender that expires at the end of next season, its last of a four-year contract. The Italian company elected against submitting a bid to continue its involvement ...Keep readingView the full article

Newly-crowned two-time WRC2 champion Mikkelsen and WRC veteran Sordo will share Hyundai’s third i20 N WRC entry with recently re-signed Esapekka Lappi, meaning three driver pairings will pilot the car next year.Confirmation of Mikkelsen’s return to WRC’s top-flight since 2019 and Sordo’s contract extension completes a strong line-up for the Korean squad.Five-time WRC title runner-up ...Keep readingView the full article

The world motorsport governing body has elected to make this decision at Annual General Assemblies Week in Baku ahead of tomorrow’s World Motor Sport Council meeting.A brief FIA statement revealed that the working group will “evaluate and recommend the future direction of rallying”. It will be headed by FIA Deputy President Robert Reid, the 2001 World Rally Championship title-winning ...Keep readingView the full article

Tanak will rejoin the South Korean marque for 2024 after leaving the team with a year remaining on his contract at the end of 2022 to join M-Sport for this season.The 2019 world champion scored two wins (Sweden, Chile) driving an M-Sport Ford Puma, but has opted to return to Hyundai following a season of misfortune.Tanak is set to jump aboard the i20 N this month to begin preparations for ...Keep readingView the full article

The foundation has been set up in memory of World Rally Championship star Breen, who tragically lost his life in a WRC testing accident in April.The sorely missed and much-loved Irishman was hugely passionate about rallying and encouraging young drivers into the sport at grassroots level.The Craig Breen Foundation, supported by Hyundai Motorsport, Sports & You, Hyundai Portugal, Hyundai Spain ...Keep readingView the full article

Thirty years have now passed but the 1993 World Rally Championship season will always be remembered as a year of firsts. It witnessed the rise of the WRC’s most popular figure amid the crowning of a bona fide record-breaking rally legend.It was Toyota’s Juha Kankkunen who ultimately emerged with the spoils, becoming the first four-time world champion and record rally winner to boot after ...Keep readingView the full article

Misted-up windscreens were a hot topic last Friday as extreme wet weather hit the stages. The issue afflicted the prototype space frame-built Rally1 cars much more severely than Rally2 machines derived from production-based models. Ogier was among a number of Rally1 drivers affected, having to peer through a two-centimetre clear section of windscreen to navigate through Friday morning stages ...Keep readingView the full article

Kalle Rovanpera’s decision to step away from a full-time programme next year has not only blown the 2024 World Rally Championship wide open but also serves as a wake-up call.Speculation that Rovanpera could be set to step down from full-time competition emerged at last month’s Central European Rally, the very round where the 23-year-old became only the sixth driver in WRC history to defend the ...Keep readingView the full article

The 46th edition of the Dakar Rally will start on 5 January, with a route entirely in Saudi Arabia.This will be the fifth time that the event will be held in the Arab country, and it is shaping up to be the most demanding to date with a total of twelve special stages plus the Prologue that will open the action.This year's novelty is the 48-hour challenge in what will be a 584-kilometre timed ...Keep readingView the full article

The two-time world champion has penned a new multi-year deal with Toyota but is set to drive only half the WRC rallies next year alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. The announcement arrives off the back of successfully defending his world title this year after becoming the youngest-ever world champion in 2022. The 23-year-old says the reason for the decision is to allow him to ...Keep readingView the full article

The reigning WRC constructors' champions have announced new contracts with Rovanpera, Elfyn Evans, Sebastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta following Toyota's dominant 1-2-3 at last weekend's season finale in Japan. Rovanpera, Evans and Ogier each scored three wins this year to help Toyota to a sixth world title.Evans, runner-up to Rovanpera in his year's title race, will contest a full season ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans spearheaded a Toyota domination of the 22-stage asphalt rally that hosted the final round of the WRC season.The Welshman delivered a masterclass in changeable conditions - that ranged from extreme wet weather to snow showers - to lead home Toyota team-mates Sebastien Ogier (+1m17.7s) and two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera (+1m46.5s).The victory marked his third of the season, alongside ...Keep readingView the full article

Glenn McGee and Anthony McIntosh became the 2023 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Champions in the World Finals held this morning in Vallelunga, while Shota Abkhazava took home the Lamborghini Cup Class title. In Race 2 AM-LC there wasn’t much in the way of excitement until the second half, when a series of contacts and incidents shuffled up the classification, changing the outcome of the race and ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans delivered an impressive display to overcome extreme wet conditions, and even snow showers, to lead home eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier by 1m17.7s.Toyota completed an utter domination of the 22-stage asphalt event, with two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera completing the podium, 1m46.5s adrift.Evans set four fastest times across the four-day event, but it was his stunning ...Keep readingView the full article

A stewards hearing deemed the incident that occurred on Saturday as a “serious and unsafe situation” which has resulted in clerk of the course Haruo Takakuwa being issued a reprimand.The matter will also be referred to the FIA WRC Commission “for further action if deemed appropriate”, according to a stewards report.Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was the first to come across the stranded zero ...Keep readingView the full article