Rally

Hyundai duo Craig Breen and Esapekka Lappi, and M-Sport’s Ott Tanak suffered sudden front tyre delaminations during Saturday afternoon. In Stage 13, the failure contributed to Lappi firing off the road and into the snowbank, resulting in the Finn losing seven minutes, dropping him outside of the top 10 having held third up until that point. On the same stage team-mate and then rally leader ...Keep readingView the full article

The Irishman was forced to complete the final three stages of the Saturday afternoon loop without the use of hybrid power after an issue with the 100kW Compact Dynamics-built unit. Breen started Saturday leading Tanak by 2.6s, with that lead briefly extending to 3.0s at the end of the morning loop. But as the afternoon progressed, the Hyundai driver, contesting the first event of his 2023 ...Keep readingView the full article

The pair survived tyre delaminations in consecutive stages across the afternoon loop, which had a significant impact on the fight for the lead. Tanak ultimately emerged with an 8.6s lead over Breen, which he will take into Sunday's final three stages. Breen had held a 2.6s lead overnight but lost ground across the afternoon. Hyundai's Thierry Neuville ended the day in third, 23.7s behind ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver, contesting a first WRC event of a partial campaign, netted a fourth stage win of the snow rally to briefly extend his lead to 5.7s before Tanak fought back on the final stage of the loop. Tanak struggled for pace in the day's first two stages but a push in Stage 11 cut Breen's advantage back to 2.6s, the margin that split the pair at the start of the day. Hyundai's ...Keep readingView the full article

The reigning world champion faced the most challenging of the road conditions thanks to his road order, which left him unable to stay in touch with leader Hyundai’s Craig Breen. Rovanpera started the day leading the rally by 1.6s from M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak after winning Thursday night’s Umea Sprint super special. However, a combination of cleaning the roads of snow and being first ...Keep readingView the full article

The Irishman, contesting his first event of a partial 2023 campaign with Hyundai, set a blistering pace on his return to the WRC, winning three of Friday’s seven stages on Sweden’s snow covered roads. Making the most of a favourable road position, Breen managed to hold off a late charge from M-Sport’s Ott Tanak, the driver that filled his seat at the Ford team this year, to end the day ...Keep readingView the full article

The Irishman, contesting a partial season with the Korean brand, quickly gelled with the i20 N to chalk up three stage wins that helped the former M-Sport driver into a slender 2.6s advantage. Breen’s afternoon push helped the 33-year-old snatch the lead from Tanak, who had held sway heading into the midday service. Tanak was however able to respond late on Friday with a first stage win of ...Keep readingView the full article

The Japanese driver, competing in his first event as a factory pilot, had been running in fifth position having ended the morning loop by winning Stage 4, before midday service. However, in the first test (Brattby 2) of the afternoon loop Katsuta clipped a snowbank on the exit of a left-hander, which pitched the GR Yaris into a roll, before eventually coming to rest on its wheels. The car ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2019 world champion moved into a 2.1s lead over Hyundai's Craig Breen, competing in the first event of his partial WRC campaign after departing M-Sport, as tricky snow and icy conditions benefitted those running lower down in the road order. Tanak's surge to the front came despite failing to secure a fastest stage time on the three tests. Hyundai's Esapekka Lappi made the most of his ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver, starting first on the road, blitzed the 5.16km Umea Sprint super special stage held in front of a sizeable crowd, to grab an early rally lead. Despite some sections being incredibly slippery and traction at a premium, Rovanpera was the driver to beat as he completed the test 1.6s faster than his nearest rival M-Sport’s Ott Tanak. "In some sections it's quite slippery ...Keep readingView the full article

The Belgian is still recovering from flu which prevented him from taking part in the second of two test days on the snow in Finland to prepare for his weekend's second round of the WRC season. Neuville was able to conduct one day of testing, but melting conditions didn't provide an accurate representation for Sweden. The illness meant teammate Craig Breen was handed an extra test day, while ...Keep readingView the full article

The former Renault F1 boss is undertaking only his second WRC event as team principal after leading the team at Monte Carlo in January, but the Frenchman has already identified areas for improvement. One of Abiteboul's key early objectives is to improve the way the team communicates, engages with its drivers and its decision-making process. Having spent the majority of his career working in F1 ...Keep readingView the full article

Ekstrom claimed the 2016 title in an ERS RX-built Audi S1 with four wins helping him to beat Johan Kristoffersson to the crown, and finished runner-up to his fellow Swede on a further three occasions in 2017, 2018 and 2020. His last World RX appearances came with the Munnich Motorsport SEAT team at the Latvia double-header in 2021, and he didn't participate last season as the championship ...Keep readingView the full article

M-Sport elected to field a Ford Puma Rally1 for new signing Tanak at the Otepaa Winter Rally, in addition to a pre-event test in Ostersund, Sweden, to prepare for the WRC’s only snow rally of the season, which begins on Thursday. Tanak spent the majority of the WRC season opener in Monte Carlo adjusting to the Puma following his off-season move from Hyundai. The 2019 world champion ended ...Keep readingView the full article

Katsuta will pilot the third points scoring GR Yaris for the first time in his career at Rally Sweden after earning a promotion to the seat for half of the 2023 season. The Japanese driver has been driving a fourth GR Yaris, not eligible for manufacturer points, in the WRC since 2020, having come through Toyota’s WRC Challenge driver development programme. However, Esapekka Lappi’s ...Keep readingView the full article

M-Sport elected to field new signing Tanak in the Estonian national rally to offer the 2019 world rally champion extra testing mileage in the Puma ahead of Rally Sweden. New testing restrictions have been imposed on WRC teams this year in a bid to clamp down on costs by limiting manufacturer teams to 21 pre-event test days (a maximum of seven per driver) instead of 28 permitted last year. As ...Keep readingView the full article

The blue oval is one of three brands alongside Toyota and Hyundai currently represented in rallying's top tier through its long-standing partnership with British operation M-Sport. Ford renewed its commitment to the WRC by agreeing to help M-Sport develop the all-new Ford Puma designed to compete in the WRC's new Rally1 hybrid regulations, introduced last year. Ford Performance and its ...Keep readingView the full article

The UK has been absent from the WRC schedule since Wales Rally GB in 2019 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 event amid reduced funding from the Welsh government. Following the loss of the event, a bid fronted by promoter Bobby Willis attempted to bring the WRC to Northern Ireland in 2021 and 2022, but the project failed to secure the £2 million funding to run the ...Keep readingView the full article

The part-time rally driver will drive a fourth Toyota at the snow rally from 9-12 February after Toyota elected to rent out a GR Yaris as part of its 2023 plans. The car has become available to hire after the team reshuffled its driver line-up following Esapekka Lappi's decision to leave Toyota for a full-time seat at Hyundai. This resulted in Takamoto Katsuta earning a promotion from its ...Keep readingView the full article

Eight-time world champion Ogier recorded a record ninth Monte Carlo win at last weekend’s WRC season opener, after winning nine of the 18 stages, the Toyota driver leading the rally from start to finish. The victory pulled Ogier one win clear of nine-time world champion Loeb’s record at the famous alpine asphalt event, with Ogier now leading his compatriot 9-8 in the Monte Carlo victory ...Keep readingView the full article