Rally

The Toyota driver increased his overnight lead over Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier by 9.6s across Sunday morning’s three stages to move 1m24.6 clear.Kalle Rovanpera kept Toyota’s 1-2-3 hopes alive ending the loop in third, 1m53.1s adrift. But the battle for fourth is hanging in balance with Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi 16.2s ahead of a charging Toyota driven by Takamoto Katsuta, who ...Keep readingView the full article

Katsuta has displayed blistering pace across the tricky asphalt stages at his home event, winning eight of the 16 stages to date.The Japanese driver’s pace would have put him firmly in the victory battle had he not damaged his GR Yaris’ radiator after colliding with trees in stage two on Friday.Katsuta was fastest on the splits in that stage before he hit a patch of standing water that also ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans took a commanding 1m49.9s lead over team-mate Sebastien Ogier into the day's eight stages after starring in treacherous wet conditions on Friday.The Welsh driver conceded time to Ogier across Saturday's stage but will head into Sunday's final six stages with a margin of 1m15.0s.Toyota remained on course to secure a podium lockout on home soil as two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera ended ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver carefully navigated through a trio of twisty asphalt stages - one affected by snow - with a 1m14.3s advantage over team-mate Sebastien Ogier.World champion Kalle Rovanpera held onto third (+1m38.9s) to preserve a Toyota 1-2-3, ahead of Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi (+3m16.8s).M-Sport’s Ott Tanak climbed to fifth while Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta completed an impressive clean sweep ...Keep readingView the full article

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was the first to come across the stranded zero car which was pulled over to one side of the road midway through the 20.32km Nukata Forest test.Unaware of the stationary vehicle ahead, Neuville, who rejoined the rally after crashing out of second on stage six yesterday, briefly stopped before passing the car. He soon switched into road mode for the remainder of the ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver could afford to take a measured approach given his sizeable advantage, but ended the morning loop, held in dry conditions, winning two of the four stages, to lead by 1m35.5s. Nearest rival Ogier was able to claw 14.4s back on Evans across the morning.Toyota’s lockout of the top three positions continued with two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera in third, 2m10.7s ...Keep readingView the full article

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was the first to come across the stranded zero car which was pulled over to one side of the road midway through the 20.32km Nukata Forest test.Neuville, who rejoined the rally after crashing out of second on stage six yesterday, passed the car but soon switched into road mode for the remainder of the stage.Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta also navigated by the Rally Japan ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville had closed to within 10.5s of Evans and looked set to offer the Toyota driver stern challenge for victory before his rally unravelled on stage six (Inabu Dam, 19.38km).The Belgian had survived horrendous wet conditions across the morning stages before taking 15s out of Evans on stage five. However, a compression in the road at the first corner of stage six resulted in a heavy impact with ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans completed the day’s six stages with a 1m49.9s advantage over eight-time world champion Ogier, who incurred a one-minute penalty before the last stage of the day. The Frenchman checked out of the final service six minutes late following a repair to the door of his GR Yaris which was damaged during stage five.Evans started Friday in ninth but leapt into the rally lead following an impressive ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans put his Toyota GR Yaris into a 26.0s lead over Neuville after winning the morning’s two stages held in extreme wet conditions, but the Welshman came under pressure from Neuville in the afternoon.Neuville’s charge came to a halt after a crash on stage six which helped push Evans into 50.9s lead over Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier.Newly-crowned two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville had closed to within 10.5s of Evans heading into stage six but his rally came to a premature halt 100 metres into the stage.The Belgian lost control of his i20N which found the trees causing terminal damage to the front of his car. Last year’s Rally Japan winners Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were unharmed in the incident. The crash has handed Evans a 44.4s lead over ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver emerged as the class of the field in arguably the most challenging and dangerous conditions the crews have experienced this season.Evans leapt from ninth after Thursday’s night’s super special to claim the lead from Neuville by 26.0s after winning the morning’s two stages. Organisers were forced to cancel the final stage of the loop on safety grounds with the adverse ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver appeared to lock up under braking on the incredibly slippery wet asphalt, littered with leaves and pine needles, and went off the road, 11.8km into the Isegami’s Tunnel stage (24.67km). Sordo’s i20N darted to left before swiping some trees as the car slid down an embankment.Both driver and co-driver Candido Carrera were reported to be okay, but with the car in a precarious ...Keep readingView the full article

Drivers have noted an excessive amount of leaves and pine needles covering the asphalt stages following the recce earlier this week.The conditions are much worse compared to last year with some crews describing the road surface as like driving on “ice”, and to make matters worse rain is expected to fall on Friday.It is understood that there have been attempts to clear some of the leaves from ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver set the fastest time around the all-new 2.10km side-by-side super special stage, held inside the 45,000-seater Toyota Stadium, a host venue for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.Neuville managed to comfortably beat newly crowned two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera by 4.0s in their head-to-head contest. Rovanpera's time was only good enough for sixth."It looks like we were quite bad ...Keep readingView the full article

The Korean marque announced on the eve of this weekend’s season finale in Japan that Esapekka Lappi will conduct a part-time programme, driving the team’s third factory i20N entry.Lappi had been expected to scale back from a full-time to a partial programme after Hyundai signed Ott Tanak from M-Sport to join Thierry Neuville for 2024.But Hyundai is yet to announce the full driver line-up for ...Keep readingView the full article

The Finn was expected to scale back from a full-time programme for 2024 after Hyundai announced the signing of Ott Tanak from M-Sport to partner the already-contracted Thierry Neuville at the South Korean marque.Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm joined Hyundai this year after impressing in a part-time programme for Toyota last year. Lappi has played a key role in developing the i20N this season and ...Keep readingView the full article

The Japanese brand has dominated the 2023 season winning eight of the 12 events to date, sealing a drivers’ and manufacturers’ title double for the third consecutive season.Toyota claimed a sixth constructors’ crown in Chile before Kalle Rovanpera wrapped up a second drivers’ title at Central European Rally last month. However, the team still has one objective still to complete, which is ...Keep readingView the full article

The FIA has been developing the next set of WRC regulations over the last two years since the launch of the Rally1 hybrid era last year.Rally1 regulations have spawned all-new cars, built around a tougher space frame chassis, that produce 500 horsepower in short bursts from a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine, married to a control 100kW hybrid kit. The cars are powered by 100% sustainable fuel.The ...Keep readingView the full article

The Ford squad is yet to confirm its plans for next season, but should it continue in rallying’s top tier the squad will have to field a changed driver line-up following Ott Tanak’s decision to re-join Hyundai for 2024.This season the team elected to scale back from running three to two full-time Ford Puma entries for Tanak and Pierre-Louis Loubet, although the latter will sit out this ...Keep readingView the full article