Rally

The championship leader rolled his Toyota GR Yaris in stage eight which put him out of his home event as the Finn retired from an event for the first time this season.While Rovanpera emerged from the incident without any serious injuries, the 22-year-old reported after the event that he was suffering from pain in his ribs and back.As a result, Rovanpera elected to sit out a European Drift Masters ...Keep readingView the full article

Regions of Greece have been subjected to severe rainfall and thunderstorms over the past 72 hours, which has caused widespread disruption and flash floods.The storm has hit Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria claiming the lives of at least 14 people.The wild weather has disrupted preparations for the rally with the FIA forced to cancel Thursday's shakedown stage after already electing to shorten stage ...Keep readingView the full article

Greece has been subjected to flash flooding this week after receiving record-breaking rainfall courtesy of Storm Daniel.Last Sunday WRC crews were issued a severe weather warning of the approaching storm. The storm has hit Lamia, the host city for the Acropolis Rally, which has resulted in several roads being flooded around the service park. Rally event director Pavlos Athanassoulas told ...Keep readingView the full article

Since it launched in 1973, the WRC has created a myriad of memorable moments from emotional victories and defeats, historic game changing achievements, to feats that simply defy belief. Distilling all the action from the last half century into 20 defined moments is by no means a small task. To attempt this the WRC collated a panel of experts to produce a list of 50 moments which were then put to ...Keep readingView the full article

M-Sport's WRC2 driver Munster had been tipped to receive a Rally1 outing this season, with the Belgian-born driver now set to take over the Puma owned by privateer Jourdan Serderidis, who has been helping the 24-year-old rising star.Before tackling Chile's gravel stages from 28 September to 1 October, Munster and co-driver Louis Louka will continue their WRC2 campaign at this week's Acropolis ...Keep readingView the full article

Following a spate of teasers, the latest official World Rally Championship video game is now confirmed – EA Sports WRC will be released 3rd November 2023.It will feature over 600km of stage miles replicating the current WRC season, including the hybrid Rally1 machines from Toyota, M-Sport Ford and Hyundai. These will sit alongside a proliferation of historic vehicles from the sport’s history ...Keep readingView the full article

A weather warning was issued by the event's clerk of the course, Anita Passalis, on Sunday night following news that heavy rain is expected to fall in the Lamia and Loutraki regions where the rally will take place.It is anticipated that the severity of the rain and the possibility of thunderstorms could cause disruption to the reece carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday.The rally is due to begin on ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2019 world champion this year rejoined the Ford squad that afforded him his full-time WRC debut in 2012, essentially on a one-year deal.It appears Tanak will once again play a key role in the silly season as teams begin to form driver line-ups for the 2024 season.Tanak has endured a challenging return to M-Sport, headlined by a victory in Sweden and a second-place finish in Croatia, but his ...Keep readingView the full article

The Finn was promoted to Hyundai’s third factory i20 N Rally1 car for WRC rounds in Estonia and Finland, filling the position left by the late Craig Breen.Suninen impressed in both outings on fast gravel stages, finishing fifth in Estonia before following that result up with a fourth at his home event in Finland.The 29-year-old’s season beyond those events had remained unclear until today’s ...Keep readingView the full article

The FIA declared on Saturday that the all-electric RX1e class will not be in action at next weekend’s World Rallycross Championship round at Estering in Germany (19-20 August) on safety grounds.The decision follows the cancellation of the RX1 class at the Lydden Hill round last month to understand the cause of a fire that broke out in the British venue's paddock, which destroyed Lancias driven ...Keep readingView the full article

Car maker’s involvement in the management of motorsport programmes has been thrust into the spotlight by the 'football manager' style turnover of senior staff at the Alpine Formula 1 team. It doesn’t take an expert to realise that seven team principals across 10 years for the Enstone team is not conducive to creating stability to be successful. The team could learn a lot from how Toyota has ...Keep readingView the full article

The Korean marque has made significant strides to catch the WRC’s pacesetters Toyota this season, but after nine rounds Hyundai has achieved only one victory in Sardinia compared to Toyota’s seven.Arguably Hyundai’s biggest improvement has arrived in fast gravel rallies. In Estonia it finished second, third and fifth, while last weekend Neuville scored a second consecutive runner-up result ...Keep readingView the full article

The Japanese brand is one of three manufacturers currently represented in rallying’s top tier alongside Hyundai and Ford via its partnership with M-Sport.Toyoda, the figure that brought Toyota back to the WRC after a 17-year absence in 2017, confirmed the brand is committed to the WRC.This commitment arrives amid uncertainty regarding the future direction of the category with a significant shift ...Keep readingView the full article

1. Rovanpera crashes out but still leaves impact on rallyKalle Rovanpera crashing out of a rally lead and completely retiring from an event is a rare collector's item. In fact, last weekend's shock Rally Finland exit was only his third retirement in 41 top-flight WRC starts.It was just unfortunate his first full retirement since Croatia 2021 came in front of thousands of passionate fans desperate ...Keep readingView the full article

The championship's promoter had been working on an expanded 14-round schedule for next year which would have included a new desert-based round in Saudi Arabia.The event had been touted as a possible addition to next year’s calendar but a deal was unable to be reached in time and has been pushed back a year. The WRC and organisers in Saudi Arabia still harbour hopes of securing an agreement but ...Keep readingView the full article

The eight-time world champion is contesting a partial WRC campaign for the second consecutive season, with the Frenchman expected to compete in as many as seven rounds this year.After missing last month's round in Estonia and last weekend's trip to Finland, Ogier is expected to make his sixth start of the season at the Acropolis Rally from 7-10 September.The 39-year-old has won three of his five ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver came through an intense battle with Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen to claim the final podium spot at last weekend’s high-speed gravel rally, marking the Japanese driver’s best result of the season to date.Finland-based Katsuta headed to his second home round low on confidence after struggling to unlock pace from his GR Yaris in Estonia last month, where he finished seventh ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans produced one of his most dominant displays of his WRC career to clinch a sixth career victory at one of the world’s most revered rallies.The Toyota driver’s 39.1s win over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville ensured the Welshman is now the most successful British driver in the event’s 72-year history, with this win arriving after his 2021 success.The result means Evans matches Finnish world ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver produced his most convincing display in a Rally1 car to date on his way to scoring a second WRC victory of the season by a margin of 39.1s over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+1m36.7s) edged Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen (+1m41.0s) to the final podium spot, while Jari-Matti Latvala’s one-off WRC comeback resulted in an impressive fifth (+4m09.4s), in what ...Keep readingView the full article

After winning seven of Saturday’s eight stages, Evans recorded two more stage wins to extend his lead to 38.2s over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta edged Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen to hold third by 6.3s heading into the rally’s final stage this afternoon. Katsuta’s team boss and three-time Finland winner Jari-Matti Latvala maintained fifth overall on his WRC comeback ...Keep readingView the full article