Rally

The Toyota driver, celebrating his 22nd birthday, claimed three of the day’s five completed stages, held in treacherous wet conditions, to spring into a commanding 29.0s lead over teammate Sebastien Ogier. Rovanpera had started the day sitting fourth, some 12.2s adrift of leader Elfyn Evans after suffering a 5s hybrid boost penalty overnight. The Finn quickly leapt ahead of Ogier before ...Keep readingView the full article

Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville were handed 5s penalties on Friday night for exceeding the prescribed maximum hybrid boost of 240kJ permitted for Stage 1 under the WRC rules. The offence occurred during Thursday night’s super special stage, with Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera also breaching the regulations, costing the Finn a 5s penalty. A stewards hearing on Saturday found that Hyundai ...Keep readingView the full article

The Welshman started the day having inherited the lead from Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, but found himself falling to fourth overall following a crash on Stage 9. Evans lost control of his Toyota GR Yaris while navigating a quick right hander, resulting in an impact with a grass bank, which rolled the car. Last year’s championship runner-up managed to reach the stage end but the car had suffered ...Keep readingView the full article

The World Rally Championship leaderboard suffered a significant shake up as Evans started the day with a 5.2-second lead, having inherited the advantage from Hyundai’s Ott Tanak. Overnight, Tanak was among three drivers - alongside team-mate Thierry Neuville and Rovanpera - to be issued 5s penalties for hybrid overuse during Thursday’s super special. Rovanpera began the day 12.2s in ...Keep readingView the full article

The championship leader has been handed the same five-second penalty that has been issued to Hyundai duo Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville for exceeding the 240kJ energy boost permitted when engaging hybrid mode. As per Tanak and Neuville the offence took place during Thursday’s super special stage held on tarmac in the centre of host city Auckland. The stewards report confirmed that the ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai driver held a slender 0.2-second advantage over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans during a drama-filled Friday in New Zealand, but has been dropped to second place due to a five-second penalty for exceeding the maximum hybrid boost permitted under the WRC rules. According to the WRC stewards’ document, Tanak used a 241.03kJ and 242.02kJ boost on the first stage, when only a 240kJ was ...Keep readingView the full article

Breen made a strong start to the gravel rally sitting second after Thursday's super special, before moving into the lead briefly when the rally headed onto New Zealand's famous gravel roads. The Irishman ended the morning loop sitting 2.6s behind Hyundai's Ott Tanak in second before his rally came to an abrupt halt on Stage 5 after setting a blistering pace on the early split times. Heading ...Keep readingView the full article

The New Zealander has this year turned his hand to rallying alongside his Supercars commitments, competing in the Australian Rally Championship, before electing to join the WRC2 class at his home WRC round. Despite completing only three rallies previously, the two-time Supercars champion, partnered by experienced co-driver Glen Weston, matched their more experienced WRC2 rivals at times. Van ...Keep readingView the full article

Despite a challenging road position and changeable weather conditions, the 2019 world champion won two of the day’s six stages on New Zealand’s famous fast and flowing gravel roads. Tanak started the day in the lead after winning Thursday’s night’s super special stage, but lost the advantage to M-Sport’s Craig Breen briefly on Friday morning, before storming back to the front on the ...Keep readingView the full article

Tanak completed the trio of stages with a 2.6s advantage over Breen and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, while Gus Greensmith sat 9.0s behind the podium places in fourth after an impressive display from the M-Sport driver. Returning eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier was fifth ahead of championship leader and road opener Kalle Rovanpera, who was 10.7s adrift. Rovanpera could secure a historic ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2019 world champion has been at the centre of the WRC silly season amid speculation that he could be set for a move away from Hyundai, with M-Sport Ford touted as a possible destination. Tanak is contracted to Hyundai for 2023, but when the Estonian was asked about his future at Hyundai after finishing second to teammate Thierry Neuville at the Acropolis Rally following team orders to hold ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2019 world champion benefitted from drier road conditions on a technical tarmac stage, held in the centre of host city Auckland, which marked Rally New Zealand's return to the WRC following a 10-year hiatus. Tanak managed to pip Breen by 0.9s to win the stage, while the latter's committed effort was completed in damper conditions. "We will see what we can do. My head was spinning in here ...Keep readingView the full article

The announcement was made on the eve of the event’s long-awaited return to the WRC after a 10-year hiatus. Organisers stated that an “extremely competitive” environment among nations wishing to hold WRC events was behind the call, and that hosting an event “every two to three years” would be more practical. The WRC is currently working towards an expanded 14-round calendar for next ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver arrives in New Zealand with a 53-point lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak and only needs to outscore his rival by eight points to secure a maiden world title. In recent events Rovanpera has seen a huge points lead whittled down by Tanak, who has won in Finland and Belgium, while finishing second in Greece last time out. In the same period Rovanpera finished second in ...Keep readingView the full article

The fast and flowing gravel roads of New Zealand have long been a hit with rally drivers but only three of the current WRC Rally1 roster can boast experience of the country’s famous roads. Eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, who has re-joined Toyota for New Zealand, threw away what would have been a maiden WRC win in 2010, while Hyundai duo Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak featured in ...Keep readingView the full article

The picturesque fast and flowing gravel roads will present a new challenge to drivers as the event makes it return to the WRC calendar for the first time since 2012. Only three of the current drivers in Sebastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak have competed in New Zealand before. All eyes will be on the battle for the WRC crown which could be sewn up Down Under as 21-year-old ...Keep readingView the full article

The experienced Spaniard has been part of Hyundai’s factory WRC programme ever since the South Korean manufacturer rejoined rallying’s top tier in 2014, but has been acting as a part-time driver in the team’s third entry since 2018. This season Sordo has shared the third i20 N with rookie Oliver Solberg, with the former due to make his fourth appearance of the 13-round season at Rally ...Keep readingView the full article

Steiner worked alongside 1995 world champion McRae across the 1999 and 2000 campaigns during a spell at the factory Ford WRC operation run by M-Sport. At M-Sport, Steiner was operating as director of engineering, having previously entered the motorsport industry as a rally mechanic for the works Mazda team in 1986, before enjoying roles at the Jolly Club Lancia team (1991-1996) and Prodrive in ...Keep readingView the full article

Dakar has changed its roadbook philosophy in recent years, with the pacenotes handed out to crews just minutes before the start of each stage instead of the previous evening. This leaves co-drivers with no time to make their own additions to the roadbook, meaning they rely entirely on the information provided by the organiser. While the change in the timing of roadbook handover has received ...Keep readingView the full article

The Finn returned to rallying’s top tier this season after securing a part-time drive with Toyota, sharing the third GR Yaris entry with eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier. Lappi’s return to Toyota, where he began his WRC career in 2017, was made possible by an opening in the driver line-up being created following Ogier’s decision to scale back his rally commitments to spend more ...Keep readingView the full article