Rally

The Toyota driver produced a faultless drive to claim his third career World Rally Championship win on Sweden’s snow despite opening the road on Friday. Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen initially took the lead on Friday before reclaiming the advantage on Saturday morning and going on to clinch the win by 22s from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, while Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi came home ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver clinched his third career WRC victory with a margin of 22s over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, while Esapekka Lappi on his return to the factory Toyota team claimed the final podium in third. Opening the road, Rovanpera grabbed the lead of the rally after Stage 3 but became embroiled in at times a six-way tussle for the lead on Friday, as only 8.9s separated the ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver, sitting second, was pushing hard in stage 16 when he lost the rear of GR Yaris on a long left-hander, resulting in a heavy impact with a snowbank. Evans was able to continue with damage to the front of his car before stopping to make some repairs. It was initially thought that the frontal impact was the reason for his retirement but the Welshman has confirmed that the absence ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera will head into the final stage of the World Rally Championship’s snow event equipped with a healthy 21.6s lead after nearest rival and teammate Evans crashed out on the day’s first test. With Evans removed from the action, the battle for second intensified between Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi, with 3.7s separating the pair in Neuville’s ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver was rushing hard in Sunday morning’s opening stage when he spun into a snowbank. The impact flicked the GR Yaris violently around but damage to the front of the car forced the Welshman out of the rally. Evans had been sitting second and was attempting to reel in rally leader and Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanpera after receiving a time penalty for a wild finish to last ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera came under pressure from Evans as the latter closed to within 1.2s of the Finn, but a masterful display on the final two night stages extended Rovanpera’s lead to 8.3s Evans was lucky to end the day after a strange finish to the final stage. The Welshman was caught out by a snowbank on the final corner and was briefly stranded but amazingly had cut the time beam in the process of ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera transformed a 4.3s deficit to overnight leader Neuville into a 4.8s advantage over Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans after Saturday morning’s loop of three stages. It was the fifth lead change of the event to date. Esapekka Lappi climbed to third some 12s adrift as the three Toyotas capitalised on Neuville’s struggles to find the grip and a costly error during the morning’s final ...Keep readingView the full article

Tanak was firmly in the fight for the win having won two stages on Friday placing the 2019 world champion 1.1 seconds adrift of the lead when drama struck. Tanak had completed the final 10km of stage five with a hybrid issue, which then triggered a red warning light on his car that required him to stop on a road section. As per new Rally1 hybrid FIA regulations such a situation requires the ...Keep readingView the full article

The opening seven stages of the WRC's only snow rally provided a pulsating battle for the lead with six cars separated by approximately 10s for the majority of the day. However, a late surge from Neuville helped the Belgian snatch a 4.3s overnight lead over Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera, who briefly held the lead heading into the afternoon loop. Toyota's Elfyn Evans surged to the lead after ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera moved into the lead after winning stage 3 and capitalising on teammate Esapekka Lappi stalling his GR Yaris on stage 3, dropping the Finn from the lead to sixth overall. As a result, Rovanpera headed back to service with a 10.4s lead over Solberg, who headed a strong start for Hyundai on the high-speed snowy roads. Elfyn Evans held third spot, 1.2s further back, despite ...Keep readingView the full article

The M-Sport driver rode his luck on early in Stage 2 when he clipped a snowbank that pitched his Ford Puma into a spin, 4.7km into the 27.8km test. Breen was able to reverse out of the snowbank to rejoin the stage after dropping 28s, but worse was to follow minutes later. The Irishman misjudged a high-speed section, resulting in his Puma ploughing through a snowbank. With his car buried ...Keep readingView the full article

The Frenchman is eager to kickstart his 2022 season in Sweden this weekend after an error resulted in a frightening crash on the third stage in Monte Carlo last month. Fourmaux and co-driver Alexandre Coria were lucky to walk way without injury after their Ford Puma was catapulted into ravine after a collision with a rock face. Such was the damage to the car, the team elected to build up a ...Keep readingView the full article

This weekend's Sweden event will be held in the brand new location of Umea, approximately 800km north of the event's previous home in Karlstad. The move north means drivers will face 17 new stages that appear to be much faster than previous snow rallies, courtesy of a number of long straights which connect technical and narrow sections. This combination has led several drivers to label this ...Keep readingView the full article

The motorsport governing body issued a statement on Wednesday night in response to racist comments made on social media directed at Kenyan driver Kimathi. The 27-year-old, named after WRC great and 1995 champion Colin McRae, is set to join the first rung on the WRC ladder this weekend, having made a name for himself in the African rally scene winning last year’s junior title. This weekend ...Keep readingView the full article

The French carmaker has a rich history in rallying having competed in the WRC with its iconic A110 in the 1960 and 1970s. It has recently returned to the arena with a rally version of its new A110 model which is eligible to compete in the R-GT class. Speaking to selected media at Alpine’s Formula 1 launch this week, Luca De Meo CEO of Renault confirmed the brand’s motorsport’s arm Alpine ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2019 and 2020 WRC manufacturers’ champions left Monte Carlo facing a myriad of problems to fix on its all-new i20 N Rally1 machine after a nightmare start to the new hybrid era. Thierry Neuville was the only Hyundai to reach the finish in a lowly sixth after recovering from broken front right suspension and handling issues. Teammate Ott Tanak retired after sliding into a rock face, having ...Keep readingView the full article

The Finn is set to embark on a part-time WRC campaign with the reigning world champion Toyota squad beginning at Rally Sweden this weekend. Lappi has rejoined the Toyota squad, whom he began his top flight WRC career with in 2017, to pilot the third GR Yaris he will share with eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier. It is expected the 31-year-old will contest the majority of the rounds ...Keep readingView the full article

The one-time WRC event winner and father of current Toyota WRC factory driver Kalle Rovanpera, has announced plans to make a comeback at the Mexican rally after a decade away from competition. Rovanpera racked up 15 podium finishes during a WRC career from 1993-2006, driving for the factory SEAT, Peugeot and Mitsubishi teams. The Finn's only win came competing for Peugeot at Rally Sweden in ...Keep readingView the full article

The British squad revealed last year that it had received plenty of interest in its new Puma, before the car had completed a competitive stage. It duly won on its competition debut in last month's Monte Carlo season-opener, courtesy of nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb and new co-driver Isabelle Galmiche. That interest has now been converted into a sale, with Greek competitor Jourdan ...Keep readingView the full article

The famous asphalt event made its WRC debut last year but was omitted from the original 2022 schedule as the WRC left a slot open for the possibility that Rally Northern Ireland could join the calendar. However, in December last year it was announced Rally Northern Ireland's hopes of joining the 2022 calendar were over after failing to secure the required funding by the deadline, imposed by ...Keep readingView the full article