Rally

Evans won seven of the day’s eight stages to open up a 32.1s lead over Hyundai WRC title rival Thierry Neuville, with four stages remaining on Sunday.The highlight was a stunning effort in stage 15 where he was 7.8s faster than rival Neuville across 18.94 kilometres of slippery gravel roads.Evans has shown strong pace throughout the rally to match the performance of rally favourite and ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver reeled off seven consecutive stage wins to turn an overnight 6.9s lead into a commanding 32.1s advantage over Neuville heading into the final day.After losing third following a spin in the morning, Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta snatched the final podium position back from Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen. Jari-Matti Latvala, the only other driverr in the Rally1 field to complete full ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver closed to within 6.9s of Evans after claiming three stage wins on Friday afternoon, but on Saturday morning Neuville struggled in tricky wet conditions. Evans fought back claiming all four stages to extend his overall advantage over Neuville to 17.7s as the Belgian was unable to match the pace of the Toyota.Neuville came close to beating Evans in stage 12, missing out by ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver starred in challenging wet conditions to win all four stages of the morning loop to transform his overnight 6.9s lead to 17.7s, as WRC crews headed to the midday service.Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen snatched third from Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta after an error from the Japanese driver. Three-time Rally Finland winner Jari-Matti Latvala successfully navigated the stages to ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans spent the majority of Friday fighting with Rovanpera, after the latter assumed the rally lead on stage two and then went on to reel off five consecutive stage wins.Rovanpera’s roll on stage eight handed Evans a lead, which he maintained across the afternoon to hold a 6.9s gap over Neuville after 10 of 22 stages. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta completed the day in third (+16.4s) ahead of ...Keep readingView the full article

The reigning world champion seemed to be in control of the rally, winning five consecutive stages to open up a 5.7s lead over Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans, despite starting first on the road.However, the 22-year-old made a rare error resulting in his GR Yaris rolling onto its roof during the second pass of the fast and undulating Myhinpaa (stage eight) gravel test.Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai pairing were sitting in fourth heading into stage five, the final test of Friday morning’s loop, when drama struck.Lappi ploughed into trees lining the gravel road after misjudging a right-hander. The impact caused significant damage to the i20 N and it is unlikely the car can be repaired to return on Saturday.Both driver and co-driver emerged from the crash relatively unscathed ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen lost control of their GR Yaris going over a crest 11.1km into the famous Myhinpaa stage.The Finnish duo rolled before eventually coming to a halt upside down at the edge of the gravel road. Rovanpera and Halttunen emerged from the incident unscathed. The damaged car was rolled back onto its wheels several minutes after the incident but remained stranded in ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera managed to tame changeable conditions to win three of the four high-speed gravel stages to lead Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by 3.9s at midday service.Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville completed the loop in third (+12.3s) while Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta inherited fourth (+16.0s) after Esapekka Lappi crashed out in stage five.Teemu Suninen (Hyundai) and WRC returnee Jari-Matti Latvala ...Keep readingView the full article

The M-Sport driver suffered a power loss during his pass through stage three (Lankamaa, 14.21km) on Friday morning which was caused by an impact to the bottom of his Ford Puma.Tanak, who started the day leading the rally after winning Thursday night’s Super Special, believes his car struck a bedrock during the stage which went through the car’s sump guard.The impact caused terminal damage to ...Keep readingView the full article

Tanak had started the day leading the rally after winning Thursday’s night’s Super Special, but an engine issue for the second event in succession proved to be the 2019 world champion’s downfall on Thursday morning.The Estonian lost the rally lead to Kalle Rovanpera in stage two before heading into stage three, the famous 14.21km Lankamaa test.However, as Tanak reached the six kilometre mark ...Keep readingView the full article

The M-Sport-Ford driver produced a committed run through the 3.48km mixed surface Harju test, held on streets and parkland roads within the host city of Jyvaskyla.Tanak clocked a time 0.6s faster than Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, while championship leader Kalle Rovanpera was a tenth further back to clock the third fastest time."The ones we are fighting are very strong obviously – we need to put ...Keep readingView the full article

The Japanese brand has based its WRC team in Jyvaskyla since its decision to return to rallying’s top tier in 2016, which has since resulted in three constructors’ crowns (2018, 2021-22) and four drivers’ titles (2019-2022).Ahead of this weekend’s Rally Finland, held in Jyvaskyla, a letter of intent was signed between the City of Jyvaskyla, the Toyota WRC team and the Toyota Mobility ...Keep readingView the full article

As previously reported, the South Korean brand’s team principal Cyril Abiteboul is evaluating a move from three to four factory entries for 2024, having fielded three cars in the top tier since 2019.Internal discussions regarding an expansion are continuing. They centre around budget and the ability to secure a driver line-up to make the most of the extra investment from Hyundai.Abiteboul says ...Keep readingView the full article

The M-Sport-Ford driver heads to the WRC’s famous fast gravel rally with the envious record of three wins in his last four outings in Finland, including a heroic drive to defeat home hero Kalle Rovanpera last year. Tanak is in need of a strong result to boost his WRC title aspirations after a five-minute engine change penalty robbed the Estonian of a chance to claim a strong points haul at ...Keep readingView the full article

The reigning world rally champion heads to Finland after producing arguably his most dominant drive yet to claim a 10th career WRC win in Estonia two weeks ago.Rovanpera continued a perfect lead up to his home event by winning the Hyacenter Rally in Tampere, Finland last weekend, after defeating Toyota WRC team-mate Elfyn Evans by 11.6s across the eight stages.However, the 22-year-old is expecting ...Keep readingView the full article

Toyota WRC boss Latvala is making a rare return to the WRC for his home event to pilot a fourth Toyota GR Yaris entry.It will be the first time the 18-time WRC rally winner will compete at the top level since a one-off outing at Rally Sweden in 2020 prior to taking up the team principal role at Toyota.The decision to contest Rally Finland, which was only made after Toyota’s dominant 1-2-3-4 at ...Keep readingView the full article

Five days after dominating Rally Estonia, reigning world champion Rovanpera is set to tackle the Hyacenter Rally, in Tampere, Finland, alongside his Toyota team-mate Evans, who finished fourth last weekend.It's the first time Toyota will field its two lead GR Yaris entries in a national rally outside of the WRC schedule this year. The Hyacenter Rally features eight stage comprising 80 kilometres ...Keep readingView the full article

The bid is centred around Rali Ceredigion, an asphalt event located around the seaside town of Aberystwyth, that is growing in stature since its inaugural edition in 2019.This year the event [2-3 September] will host the fifth round of the British Rally Championship and a round of the FIA European Rally Trophy. Last year's rally was won by former works Hyundai WRC driver Hayden Paddon. However ...Keep readingView the full article

It is widely anticipated that an evolution of the Rally1 hybrid regulations, featuring minor changes from those introduced last year, will form the rules for 2025 and 2026, which the FIA has been working towards for several months.As previously reported, the formalisation of the regulations hinges on reaching a deal with a hybrid unit supplier. Compact Dynamics, which designed and supplies WRC ...Keep readingView the full article