Rally

Sainz was never threatened in the 346km loop near Bisha since he grabbed the lead at the third waypoint from Overdrive’s Lucio Alvarez, the Spaniard successfully tackling the soft dunes towards the end of the stage en route to a comfortable 2m04s victory. This was Sainz’s second stage win in the Dakar this year and the fourth for Audi’s new hybrid RS Q e-tron contender. The result marked ...Keep readingView the full article

The French rider went into Thursday's 346km loop around Bisha leading the rally overall by nearly six minutes, but as the fourth rider in the running order he suffered on the first part of the stage. After just 43km, van Beveren had already conceded 13 minutes to the leaders as he struggled to find an early waypoint, and that deficit grew to 21m33s by the end of the stage as he suffered two ...Keep readingView the full article

The Ford squad was forced to curtail its running in France on Wednesday after Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle clipped a bridge, sending the Puma into a spin before rolling down a 15 metre drop-off the side of the asphalt road, with the car coming to rest on its roof. Luckily, Breen and Nagle escaped the incident unscathed but the crash halted the test and initially threatened to derail the ...Keep readingView the full article

The four-time WRX champion clinched the title last year in dramatic circumstances at the Nurburgring when he overturned a 17-point deficit to beat fellow Swedish driver Timmy Hansen on wins countback. Last season Kristoffersson jumped behind the wheel of an Audi S1, with his previous world title triumphs coming in a Volkswagen entry, which he returns to for 2022. The Kristoffersson ...Keep readingView the full article

Dubai-based Briton Sunderland has put himself in a strong position to clinch a second Dakar crown with a solid run on Thursday's 346km loop around Bisha, as several of his main rivals in the general classification lost considerable ground due to navigational woes. The GasGas rider led for most of the stage but dropped time following the penultimate waypoint to miss out on a second win of the ...Keep readingView the full article

Prodrive/Bahrain driver Loeb faces a daunting 32m40s deficit to Al-Attiyah heading into the penultimate stage near Bisha on Thursday, leaving him with a very slim chance of adding a Dakar win to his nine titles in the World Rally Championship. Loeb has been on the back foot ever since he dropped more than half an hour with a mechanical issue in Stage 3, with navigational issues three stages ...Keep readingView the full article

The pair were driving the new Ford Puma Rally1 hybrid on asphalt roads in France when the incident occurred. Images on social media have captured the car having come to rest on its roof. M-Sport has confirmed to Motorsport.com that both Breen and Nagle are okay after contact with a bridge post pitched the car off the road, before slowly rolling down a steep banking. The team is working to ...Keep readingView the full article

Peterhansel had been in fine form throughout the 375km between Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha, one of the fastest stages of the rally, running a close second to teammate Carlos Sainz early on before grabbing the lead at the third waypoint. Once out in front, the 14-time Dakar winner steadily extended his advantage over the chasing pack, eventually sealing victory by 2m06s over Sainz. This was ...Keep readingView the full article

Van Beveren started the day third overall, trailing leader Matthias Walkner by just under four minutes ahead of the day's 375km run between Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha. But with the fourth-fastest stage time, the Frenchman leapt into the spot for the second time in Saudi Arabia, and will take an advantage of four minutes and 15 seconds into the final two days. Taking honours on Stage 10 was ...Keep readingView the full article

Benavides had been in contention for back-to-back Dakar wins as he sat fifth in the general classification following Tuesday's Stage 9, just 10 minutes back from leader and KTM teammate Matthias Walkner. However, the Argentinian rider hit mechanical trouble a little over a third of the way into Stage 10, a 375km run between Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha, coming to a halt at the 133km ...Keep readingView the full article

Al-Attiyah’s sanction follows some controversy over the absence of a penalty imposed on Bahrain Raid Xtreme on Monday after a spare tyre was lost by Sebastien Loeb. But today, the sporting stewards decided that a time penalty was fit for Al-Attiyah’s infraction. As seen by officials in a video published on social media, Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel did not have their seat belts ...Keep readingView the full article

The WRC will debut new Rally1 regulations, built around the introduction of hybrid technology, at next week's Monte Carlo Rally. All-new Rally1 WRC cars feature a 100kW hybrid unit that is coupled to a 1.6 litre internal combustion engine, which pushes out 500 horsepower in short bursts when the two are working in tandem. Drivers will have the use of an extra 130 horsepower in the form of ...Keep readingView the full article

With the Audis of Mattias Ekstrom and Stephane Peterhansel forced to open the road following their 1-2 finish on Monday, the three Toyotas duked it out for victory in the 287km test near Wadi Ad Dawasir. Stage 5 winner Lategan held the early advantage in his Hilux T1+ car, but couldn’t pull out a gap over his teammates de Villiers and Al-Attiyah, as Peterhansel and Prodrive’s Sebastien Loeb ...Keep readingView the full article

The 287km test near Wadi Ad Dawasir was dominated by the factory Honda team, with Cornejo and 2020 winner Ricky Brabec trading the top spot throughout the day. Cornejo held the early advantage after the first waypoint on 40km but was quickly leapfrogged by Brabec on the sister CRF 450 Rally bike. The 30-year-old went on to build a small buffer for himself until the fourth waypoint, but was ...Keep readingView the full article

Ex-Formula 1 racer Kovalainen has been combining his activities in SUPER GT with the SARD Toyota team with rally outings in Japan for some years now, and was even crowned champion in the national championship's JN-2 class last year at the wheel of a Toyota GT86. With the Finn calling time on his SUPER GT career at the end of last season, he is free to focus on contesting the full Japan Rally ...Keep readingView the full article

Prodrive/Bahrain driver Loeb managed to cut the gap to outright leader Nasser Al-Attiyah to 38 minutes with a fine run to third place in the 395km test between Al Dawadimi and Wadi Ad Dawasir. However, the results were up in the air until 20.45 local time as the FIA stewards investigated whether to penalise Loeb for arriving at the finish with one less spare wheel than he had at the ...Keep readingView the full article

The three-time Dakar winner lost almost eight minutes to nearest rival Sebastian Loeb in the overall classification by the end of the 395km Stage 8 between Dawadimi and Wadi Ad Dawasir, having completed the majority of the stage with only front-wheel drive with his Toyota while he also suffered a puncture early into the test. The Qatari driver, who finished Stage 8 in 11th place, explained ...Keep readingView the full article

Two-time DTM champion Ekstrom and teammate Stephane Peterhansel traded the top spot for most of the 395km Stage 8 between Al Dawadimi and Wadi Ad Dawasir, with only Sebastien Loeb able to prevent the contest from turning into an all-Audi affair. Peterhansel appeared on course for a 49th career stage win in the cars category after Ekstrom dropped nearly three minutes off the lead on Waypoint 8 ...Keep readingView the full article

Sunderland, who led almost all of the first week of the Saudi Arabian event, had lost the advantage as the rally resumed after rest day on Sunday, as he lost almost 26 minutes to the leaders on what he described as a "casino" stage in terms of navigation. However, the Briton struck back on Monday's 395km Al Dawadimi-Wadi Ad Dawasir test, leading at every single waypoint to win the stage by two ...Keep readingView the full article

The Korean marque has unveiled its challenger to tackle the WRC’s new hybrid era, featuring a tweaked version of its blue and orange factory livery. The i20 N Rally1 will be piloted by Thierry Neuville and 2019 WRC champion Ott Tanak across the full 13-round championship, while new signing Oliver Solberg will share the third entry with the experienced Dani Sordo during the season. Solberg ...Keep readingView the full article