Rally

Gill and fellow Australian co-driver Daniel Brkic enjoyed a clean outing on the German gravel roads to emerge as the best-placed finishers of the FIA Rally Star crews, finishing the event in sixth overall and third in the Rally3 class.Organised and funded by the FIA, six driver and co-driver pairings have been selected from regional finals held across the world to tackle six European rallies this ...Keep readingView the full article

The WRC is currently evaluating its event format structure for the future having faced criticism from drivers, teams and fans this year.This has resulted in a package of format tweaks for next year that is set to be proposed and discussed at the next FIA World Motor Sport Council on December 6, following a discussion at the last meeting in October.At the Acropolis Rally this year the WRC Promoter ...Keep readingView the full article

The former Renault Formula 1 boss is in the process of transforming the Hyundai squad to turn the team into a title winning force.Since taking over as team principal, Abiteboul has recruited former Volkswagen WRC and Williams F1 technical director Francois Xavier Demaison to head its technical department.Last month, Hyundai announced that it had signed 2019 world champion Ott Tanak from M-Sport to ...Keep readingView the full article

Fourmaux's triumph in the penultimate round of the WRC season is the latest of a string of impressive displays from the Frenchman this year, which also includes a maiden British Rally Championship title.After a turbulent 2022 littered with high-profile crashes, M-Sport moved Fourmaux from its Rally1 operation to head up its Rally2 squad. The move has sparked a positive reaction from the ...Keep readingView the full article

The Italian started his career as a journalist prior to a spell working in public relations but he is perhaps best known in motorsport for managing Peugeot's return to the WRC in 1999.Provera initially worked for Chrysler Italy, progressing his way up through the ranks at the manufacturer before it was bought by Peugeot.After being named head of Peugeot Sport, he led the marque back to the WRC ...Keep readingView the full article

After undergoing development during the off-season, Hyundai has made great strides with its i20N this season but is still behind the championship's pacesetting Toyota GR Yaris on both reliability and performance.With one round of the season remaining, Hyundai has scored 14 podiums, the same as it had amassed at this point last season, albeit with one less victory, and has been unable to halt ...Keep readingView the full article

The WRC welcomed an all-new concept to the championship last weekend with the inaugural running of the Central European Rally, which saw rallying's top tier host an event in three countries for the first time.The Central European Rally concept, which will return in 2024, comprised 18 asphalt stages held in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. The event was well received by the championship and ...Keep readingView the full article

The South Korean marque has already reshuffled its driver line-up for 2024 with Ott Tanak rejoining the team alongside Thierry Neuville, but it is yet to reveal plans for its third and potentially fourth car.Abiteboul says a call is likely to be made before the season finale in Japan later this month.The former Renault Formula 1 boss has admitted that Suninen, who was drafted in to pilot the third ...Keep readingView the full article

The 23-year-old successfully defended his WRC title by finishing second at last weekend’s Central European Rally as the Finn became only the sixth driver in WRC history to win back-to-back titles.Rovanpera now boasts the enviable record of a 50% title success rate from his four seasons in rallying’s top tier.PLUS: How mature Rovanpera played the bigger picture to join the WRC's greatsHowever ...Keep readingView the full article

Kalle Rovanpera has climbed up another notch in the World Rally Championship Hall of Fame following the successful defence of his world title. After rewriting the record books last year by becoming the youngest ever world champion at the age of 22, the WRC's latest superstar sealed the 2023 title by defeating Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans at last weekend's Central European Rally.Here's how ...Keep readingView the full article

Although EA SPORTS WRC's driving physics are influenced by the now four-year-old DiRT Rally 2.0, Codemasters has dispensed with its proprietary Ego technology in favour of Unreal Engine, in theory allowing more detailed visuals and stages over 30 kilometres in length. All of the 2023 WRC season’s rallies are represented, (the Central European Rally arrives as a free, post-release DLC), with the ...Keep readingView the full article

The reigning world champion squad chose three young Japanese rally talents namely; Hikaru Kogure (20), Nao Otake (21) and Yuki Yamamoto (24) to join its driver development programme last year, that aims to promote a young Japanese driver to its WRC team in the future.After an extensive two-year training programme led by 15-time WRC rally winner Mikko Hirvonen, which has seen the trio compete in ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans witnessed his hopes of a maiden world title evaporate for another season last weekend at the Central European Rally. The Welshman admitted prior to the event that his title prospects were slim, but if he outscored Toyota team-mate on the asphalt stages, the title fight would have gone down to the season finale in Japan next month. Ultimately a crash on stage 11 allowed Rovanpera to seal ...Keep readingView the full article

The title race appeared set to head to the season finale in Japan next month, an event which is among the seven points scoring rounds selected by the Toksport Skoda Fabia driver.Mikkelsen finished this weekend's18-stage asphalt contest in 13th overall after his hopes of challenging for the class victory evaporated following an off in treacherous wet conditions on Friday.The off-track excursion ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen clinched a second world title with a round to spare after finishing second behind Hyundai's Thierry Neuville at the inaugural Central European Rally.The 23-year-old is only the sixth driver in the WRC's 50-year history to successfully defend a world title, following in the footsteps of Sebastien Loeb, Sebastien Ogier, Tommi Makinen, Juha Kankkunen and Miki ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville claimed the spoils in the inaugural three-country asphalt rally that saw the WRC compete across the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany in one event for the first time. The Belgian took his second victory of the season by 57.6s from Rovanpera.However, the result was enough for Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen to become only the sixth pairing in WRC history to defend the world title ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville successfully guided his Hyundai i20N through Sunday morning’s three asphalt stages as the Belgian increased his lead over Rovanpera to 43.9s.Rovanpera was afforded the luxury of only needing to realistically navigate today’s four stages to wrap up a second world title, which meant he could engage cruise mode.M-Sport’s Ott Tanak maintained third (+1m48.9s) ahead of Toyota’s ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver will secure a second World Rally Championship title this weekend if he outscores team-mate Evans, which seems increasingly likely after the latter crashed out on stage 11.Evans will rejoin the rally on Sunday but will realistically only be able to claim a maximum of five points from the Power Stage, while Rovanpera heads into the final four stages sitting second overall, 26.2s ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver emerged from a dramatic Saturday with a 26.2s lead over Rovanpera, having started the day 36.4s adrift of the Finn. Neuville claimed two stage wins across the morning before slashing the deficit to Rovanpera to 10.9s after the latter overshot a hairpin. The Belgian assumed the lead when Rovanpera switched into cruise mode after his title rival and Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver admitted his title hopes were a long shot coming into the rally as the Welshman needed to outscore title rival and team-mate Kalle Rovanpera to take the fight to next month’s Japan finale.However these hopes are now hanging by a thread after crashing out of stage 11, the final test of the Saturday morning loop.Running in third position, Evans slid off the road at right hander ...Keep readingView the full article