Rally

Chassis WR026 is the third car auctioned off by Walkinshaw Andretti United through its partner Lloyds Auctions in recent years, however this was the first time one was offered complete with its V8 engine and gearbox. That helped drive it's price up to an eye-watering AUD$610,000, a full $390,000 more than an ex-Mostert chassis sans engine sold for last year. The new owner will take delivery ...Keep readingView the full article

This will be the third co-driver Katsuta has worked alongside this season following a series of unexpected events. Regular co-driver Daniel Barritt sustained a neck and back injury during July's Rally Estonia and has been on the sidelines ever since. Keaton Williams was then drafted in to sit in for Barritt, competing with Katsuta for the first time in August's Ypres Rally, but was forced to ...Keep readingView the full article

Carlos Sainz, Stephane Peterhansel and Mattias Ekstrom shared a test car for 14 days in the dunes of Morocco, offering Audi a chance to fully evaluate its ‘electric’ contender before its highly-anticipated return to cross-country rallying. The German marque shook down the RS Q e-tron in the middle of July and completed another 200km of running in the Monegros desert in Spain last month, but ...Keep readingView the full article

New regulations governing the main rally-raid car category have forced the top teams to modify their existing 4x4 prototypes for the next edition of Dakar in January, as reported by Motorsport.com earlier this year. Audi, which is making its debut in the legendary event, was the first manufacturer to reveal its innovative hybrid vehicle RS Q e-tron at the end of July and recently completed two ...Keep readingView the full article

Sordo is among the most experienced drivers in the WRC having made his championship debut in 2003, driving for Citroen, Mini, Ford and Hyundai factory teams, winning three rallies across his career to date. The 38-year-old has been with Hyundai since the marque’s re-emergence on the WRC scene in 2014 but has been driving partial campaigns since 2018. However, his future for next season is ...Keep readingView the full article

The Japanese marque is yet to officially confirm any drivers for 2022 although it is widely expected Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera will be retained, while Takamoto Katsuta appears likely to remain in the squad’s fourth entry. However, the team's third Yaris has triggered plenty of speculation with seven-time world champion Sebastien Ogier set for only a partial campaign next season, freeing ...Keep readingView the full article

Having come to blows with Finn Niclas Gronholm at the first corner of the final in round four of the series 24 hours earlier and spun out of contention, the Swede had to give second-best to Gronholm in the overall qualifying order. Both drivers won their semi-finals to lock out the front row of the final, but this time around Kristoffersson, starting on the outside, not only survived turn one ...Keep readingView the full article

In the first of two rounds in a double-header weekend on the outskirts of Riga, the son of double World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm set the fastest time in Q3 at the Bikerneiki circuit, then led his semi-final throughout to secure a front row start for the final. There the GRX-SET Hyundai driver lined up next to top qualifier Johan Kristoffersson, the Audi S1 driver setting the first ...Keep readingView the full article

Earlier this week, Fourmaux announced a split with his co-driver of almost four years, Renaud Jamoul, with last weekend’s run to seventh at the Acropolis Rally the duo’s last outing. Just days following the split M-Sport has confirmed the Coria will take over the seat for Rally Finland (1-3 October), one of three remaining rounds of the WRC season. The opportunity for Frenchman Coria ...Keep readingView the full article

Ott Tanak led Hyundai’s charge ultimately finishing second 42.1s behind Toyota’s runaway winner Kalle Rovanpera but the Estonian’s rally was not without a battle against technical dramas. Tanak admitted he was lucky to start his i20 ahead of the final stage as a plume of blue smoke emerged from the car, this came after an electrical issue on Sunday morning that left the 2019 champion ...Keep readingView the full article

The M-Sport Ford driver confirmed on social media on Wednesday that last weekend's round in Greece, where the pair finished seventh, would be their final event together. Experienced 37-year-old Belgian co-driver, Jamoul, teamed up with Fourmaux in 2019 when the duo competed in selected rounds of WRC2 and the European Rally Championship. Last year they recorded a maiden victory at the Canary ...Keep readingView the full article

a Top Performer - Kalle Rovanpera There is only one contender. Take a bow Kalle Rovanpera. The Finn was supreme and at times in a different postcode compared to his rivals as he delivered arguably his best drive of his fledgling career. The event is known as Acropolis Rally of the Gods, but in truth after the Toyota driver's performance it should be renamed Acropolis Kalle of the Gods, such ...Keep readingView the full article

Hyundai has announced Suninen will join its ranks alongside WRC2 regular Jari Huttunen, the news coming shortly after the Korean marque announced that Oliver Solberg will drive a WRC car at the October 14-17 October event. This is the second drive Suninen has secured since his shock departure from M-Sport last month. The Finn elected to split from the British team after being offered a more ...Keep readingView the full article

The new FIA regulations that will come into force for the 2022 Dakar Rally and the new Cross-Country World Championship have forced the top teams to modify their existing 4x4 vehicles and adapt them to the new T1+ technical specifications, as Motorsport.com revealed earlier this year. Thus, the 4x4s will now have 350mm of suspension travel compared to the current 280mm, 37-inch wheels ...Keep readingView the full article

The event will see the 19-year-old make his WRC tarmac debut after top flight appearances for the squad at February’s Arctic Rally Finland, where he finished seventh, before retiring from June’s Safari Rally. Solberg has previously driven the Hyundai i20 WRC car on tarmac after a run to victory at Rally di Alba in Italy. Rally Spain hosts the penultimate round of the WRC season across 14-17 ...Keep readingView the full article

Despite having officially 'retired' from World RX at the end of 2018, the versatile Swede made a one-off appearance in 2019 at Spa, then contested a full season for the EKS JC team he part-owns last year to fill a seat in the team amid the pandemic. He won twice, in Sweden and Latvia, finishing second in the standings as the closest challenger to champion Johan Kristoffersson. This season ...Keep readingView the full article

Rovanpera once again underlined his potential after recording a dominant performance to score a second career win at last weekend's Acropolis Rally. The 20-year-old, who became the WRC's youngest ever winner at July's Rally Estonia, blitzed his rivals on Greece's famous gravel tests, winning eight of the 15 stages to beat Hyundai's Ott Tanak by 42.1s and claim the Power Stage bonus ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver took the lead after Stage 3 on Friday before blitzing his rivals on Saturday morning to set up the win, after transforming a 3.7s margin to 30.8s heading into the final day. The Finn then destroyed the opposition again with superior pace in the wet on Sunday morning and then blitzed the Power Stage to claim victory and the full bonus points. Rovanpera was untouchable ...Keep readingView the full article

The Italian event had been expected to slot into the November slot vacated by Rally Japan after organisers confirmed the cancellation of the rally earlier this week for the second consecutive year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rally Monza’s return to the WRC calendar was announced during the WRC Live coverage of the final stage of the Acropolis Rally. The event will take place on November ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota driver was untouchable on Sunday’s first stage as the Finn revelled in the slippery mud caused by the weather, edging him closer to a likely second career WRC victory. Rovanpera did drop 9.9s on the penultimate stage of the rally to Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, but such was his pace on Stage 13, he headed into the day’s final stage with a 35s lead. Championship leader Sebastien ...Keep readingView the full article