Rally

The M-Sport driver was caught out by an ice patch on the final corner of the Le Fugeret - Thorame-Haute stage, the first test of the Saturday morning loop. Loubet’s Ford Puma slid wide after hitting the ice while crossing a bridge that marked the end of the 16.8km stage. The right-rear corner of the car clouted the barriers causing significant damage as it bent the right-rear wheel and ...Keep readingView the full article

The eight-time world champion will head into Saturday equipped with a 36.0s lead over world champion Kalle Rovanpera, after winning six of the first eight stages. While Ogier has dominated his opposition, the Toyota driver’s run to a commanding advantage has been far from straightforward. Toyota was forced to complete a “record” gearbox change, after a clutch issue was found during ...Keep readingView the full article

This weekend’s Monte Carlo Rally is former Toyota and Hyundai driver Tanak's first rally in the machine that won in the principality last year in the hands of nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb, having re-joined the Cumbrian squad who started his WRC career in 2011 during the off-season. With only one-and-half test days under his belt prior to the rally, 2019 WRC champion Tanak ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver, competing in a partial WRC campaign, delivered a masterclass display to claim four of the day's six tricky Alpine asphalt stages. Ogier's relentless pace will see the eight-time Monte Carlo winner head into Saturday equipped with a 36.0s advantage over Rovanpera, who managed to leapfrog Hyundai's Thierry Neuville into second across the afternoon loop. Neuville was unable ...Keep readingView the full article

Eight-time world champion Ogier is yet to beaten in Monte Carlo this year, having won the five stages to date. The feat was made even more impressive given the Toyota driver was without hybrid boost for two of the three stages this morning. Ogier’s advantage heading into the afternoon loop has ballooned to 32.7s after Evans suffered a right -ear puncture on Stage 5, which dropped him from ...Keep readingView the full article

The eight-time world champion and eight-time Monte Carlo winner kicked off his partial WRC season in style to head into Friday with a 6.0s lead over Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans. New M-Sport signing Ott Tanak ended the opening tests in third, 15.4s adrift despite being without fifth gear aboard his Ford Puma. Thierry Neuville led Hyundai’s charge in fourth but was lucky not fall further ...Keep readingView the full article

Abiteboul is attending his first WRC round this weekend in Monte Carlo, taking change of the South Korean factory squad as its new team principal. This role is the Frenchman first foray into rallying having spent the majority of his career working in F1 as team principal at Caterham (2012-2014), before joining Renault, where he headed the Enstone team until 2021 when it rebranded to ...Keep readingView the full article

The Italian tyre brand has developed an entirely new tyre for the 2023 season opener which is expected to operate in low temperatures synonymous with Monte Carlo. In addition to the new supersoft, Pirelli has refined its soft compound tyre for the event. The soft and supersoft tyres are expected to be the options used most by WRC crews as conditions are expected to be dry with limited sections ...Keep readingView the full article

The eight-time world rally champion will once again contest a partial campaign in 2023 for reigning champion Toyota, piloting a third car which he will share with Takamoto Katsuta. After losing out to M-Sport's Sebastien Loeb last year when a puncture derailed a likely victory on the penultimate stage, Ogier is already eying the prospect of adding to his tally in the principality. Ogier and ...Keep readingView the full article

Abiteboul's recent arrival at Hyundai, after a long spell in F1 as a team boss at the Caterham and Renault squads, helped fuel speculation that the company could be eyeing a move into grand prix racing. F1 chiefs have long talked about a number of manufacturers holding talks behind the scenes to join the sport after new engine regulations kick in from 2026. It has been suggested that Hyundai ...Keep readingView the full article

After a dominant 2022 campaign to become the youngest-ever world champion, Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera will aim to become only the sixth driver to successful defend the championship crown. A combination of all fresh driver line-ups, revised Rally1 cars and a new calendar promises an intense fight for the 2023 title. New driver line-ups One of the wildest silly seasons has resulted in all ...Keep readingView the full article

The FIA has imposed a testing reduction for this season with the view to ease the financial pressures on teams as testing is one of the largest expenses during a season. Last season teams were handed 28 test days plus a number of extra test outings to conduct tyre testing on behalf of the championship’s control supplier Pirelli. Under the new testing guidelines, manufacturer drivers will ...Keep readingView the full article

The 60-year-old Spaniard, the father of Ferrari F1 racer of the same name, suffered a major shunt just six kilometres into Stage 9 of the Dakar, when his Audi rolled upside down while tackling a dune – landing heavily on its nose and then roof. Sainz had initially looked set to withdraw from the event, and was even on his way to hospital after reporting chest pains, only to change his ...Keep readingView the full article

The Ford squad has today taken the covers off the latest version of its Puma, which this year will be driven by an all-new driver line-up of 2019 world champion Ott Tanak and French rising star Pierre-Louis Loubet. Tanak has returned to the Cumbrian squad to spearhead the team’s attack following his departure from Hyundai at the end of last year, after exercising an option leave the South ...Keep readingView the full article

The French manufacturer unveiled its all-new Clio Rally3 at the Pas de la Casa Circuit in Andorra today following an extensive 5,000 kilometre development programme carried out since May last year. The Clio Rally3 signifies Renault’s renewed commitment to rallying, with the brand now joining Ford in having built cars to Rally3 regulations. As reported last year, the Renault Group through ...Keep readingView the full article

In another characteristic display from the Qatari driver, Al-Attiyah switched to a conservative approach once all his rivals had fallen by the wayside, playing the long-game instead of going all-out for individual stage honours. Finishing a safe 11th on the final 136km test between Al-Hofuf and Dammam on Sunday, the Toyota star took the overall honours by 1hr18m49s in what was one of the most ...Keep readingView the full article

Argentina's Benavides went into the 14th and final stage of the Saudi Arabian event 12 seconds behind Price, but won the 136km test stage by 55 seconds from his rival to clinch a second title to add to the one he won for Honda in 2021. Husqvarna's Skyler Howes, who had led the contest heading into the rest day, finished third, five minutes and four seconds behind. Benavides first ...Keep readingView the full article

Having fallen out of contention for overall honours after multiple punctures and a roll in the opening days of the rally-raid, the Bahrain Raid Xtreme driver has since turned his attention to individual stage victories, going all-out in his Prodrive Hunter in the second week of the event. Since being handed a victory in Stage 8 due to a penalty for Carlos Sainz Sr, Loeb has been untouchable in ...Keep readingView the full article

The South Korean marque officially announced its appointment of the former Renault Formula 1 boss this week after Abiteboul emerged as Hyundai’s successful candidate to lead its motorsport activities last month. Abiteboul will now take charge of Hyundai’s WRC team and its customer racing actives in what will be a first move into rallying for the former F1 team boss. In Q&A issued by ...Keep readingView the full article

The nine-time world champion joined the Ford squad for four rallies last season, which included a memorable 80th career WRC win at Monte Carlo last January. Loeb was absent from M-Sport’s 2023 team announcements to date as the British outfit elected to scale back to only two full-time manufacturer entries, driven by new signing Ott Tanak and Pierre-Louis Loubet. M-Sport is however set to ...Keep readingView the full article