Rally

Toyota has confirmed it will field a fifth privateer entry for the championship’s visit to Finland from October 1-3 for Lappi, who has been linked to a drive with the Japanese marque for next year. The 30-year-old has been absent from the WRC this season after losing his seat at M-Sport Ford after a single campaign with the British squad last year. Lappi’s return ensures there will be ...Keep readingView the full article

Solberg made his top flight WRC debut with the team at this year’s Arctic Rally Finland, where he finished seventh in February, before making a WRC return at June's Safari Rally, which ended in early retirement. The 19-year-old son of 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg has been dovetailing his WRC outings with a WRC2 campaign for Hyundai and is highly rated by the operation. Hyundai has ...Keep readingView the full article

The Finn has endured a difficult campaign with the British squad that has seen him run a split campaign in both WRC and WRC2. Suninen released a statement on Friday night announcing his departure from the team, stating the decision has been communicated to M-Sport, although the team has yet to issue a statement. The immediate departure means this month's Rally Ypres was his last event for ...Keep readingView the full article

Next year the WRC will launch its new Rally1 sporting regulations which will see Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford field all-new hybrid rally cars to contest rallying’s top tier. The cars are expected to be faster and safer than the current WRC machines and crucially will be fitted with plug-in 100kW hybrid system and a much tougher safety cell to protect the driver and co-driver. Under the ...Keep readingView the full article

2019 champion Hansen topped the Intermediate classification to land pole position for semi-final one, a race that he led from lights to flag to secure the front row for the all-important final. Just like on day one, the Swede hadn’t had things all his own way in qualifying on Sunday, as Dutchman Kevin Abbring and then Q1 winner Johan Kristoffersson set the fastest times. But thanks to ...Keep readingView the full article

However, by virtue of Hansen beating Kristoffersson in a head-to-head battle in Q2, the 2019 World RX title winner sits top of the order. Triple and defending World RX Champion Kristoffersson made the best launch from the same Q1 race as Hansen and led throughout, defending his track position despite a big push from Hansen behind, who had taken an early joker. While the joker merge on the ...Keep readingView the full article

Japan is set to host the championship’s final round from 11-14 November although the rising number of COVID-19 cases has resulted in confirmation this week that October’s Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix will be cancelled for a second consecutive year. MotoGP has already scrubbed its Japanese GP from its calendar earlier this year before this week’s decision to cancel the Malaysian Grand ...Keep readingView the full article

Top Performer - Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe It's an obvious choice, but it is impossible to overlook Ypres Rally winners Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe. They were supreme in every department. The Hyundai Motorsport pair were under huge pressure to deliver in front of a expectant home crowd, heading into the event as overwhelming favourites given their knowledge of ...Keep readingView the full article

Bakkerud tied on points for the World RX crown in 2019, but lost the title on countback. Now he will race in the FIA European Rallycross Championship season opener that features on the World RX bill this weekend in an ES Motorsport Skoda Fabia. Having been one of three drivers to have contested every World RX event since the series' inception in 2014 until the start of 2021, Bakkerud returns ...Keep readingView the full article

The current manufacturers' championship leaders were soundly beaten on Belgium's WRC debut, as rival Hyundai ended its victory drought with a comfortable one-two headed by local hero Thierry Neuville. Ypres' unique fast and narrow tarmac roads, lined with cuts and deep ditches, favoured those with previous experience of the rally as evidenced by 2018 and 2019 event winners Neuville and Craig ...Keep readingView the full article

The Korean marque ended its WRC victory drought in style as Thierry Neuville led home Craig Breen to score a one-two at last weekend's event in Belgium. It was Hyundai's first win since Ott Tanak's triumph at February's Arctic Rally Finland and arrives after the team witnessed likely wins slip from their grasp in the previous four rallies. Hyundai has proved it has the fastest package this ...Keep readingView the full article

The Hyundai Motorsport driver recorded a comfortable win at the Ypres Rally as the event made its long awaited debut on the WRC calendar this weekend. Neuville headed a Hyundai 1-2 finishing 30.7 seconds ahead of teammate Craig Breen to score his first win of the season, while ending Hyundai’s poor run of form that after unreliability and misfortune cost the team likely wins at the previous ...Keep readingView the full article

Maillet's body was found by the local police in her Luxembourg home, alongside the bodies of her husband and another woman, all three showing gunshot wounds. According to a statement issued by Luxembourg's public prosecutor, Maillet's husband is believed to have shot and killed both women before committing suicide. "At 00:10, the bodies of two women and one man were discovered by the police ...Keep readingView the full article

The Toyota WRC driver has stated that he will be testing what he described as "the World Endurance Championship car" in Bahrain in November as he works towards his dream of competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Ogier, 37, has given no other details of the test, but it appears that he was talking about the new-for-2021 Toyota GR010 Hybrid. Toyota has so far only confirmed that it is working ...Keep readingView the full article

The home hero has proved the class of the field as Rally Ypres made its debut on the WRC calendar, leading home a Hyundai one-two, 30.7s ahead of team-mate Craig Breen. It was an emotional victory for Neuville in front of a huge home crowd, his first WRC win since the Monte Carlo Rally in January last year and the first alongside new co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe. The triumph also ended ...Keep readingView the full article

The local hero produced a faultless drive on the first run through Sunday’s stages, based around Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix venue Spa-Francorchamps. Neuville managed to increase his 10.1s overnight advantage to 14.9s, helped by a mistake for nearest rival and teammate Craig Breen, who clipped a bank on the day’s first stage. Only 4.3s covered Toyota trio Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanpera ...Keep readingView the full article

The local hero realistically needs to just complete Sunday’s remaining four stages, held around the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit, to claim his first victory since the Monte Carlo Rally last year and Hyundai’s first since February’s Arctic Rally Finland. Neuville has so far produced a faultless performance scoring seven stage wins to open up a 10.1s lead over team-mate Craig Breen ...Keep readingView the full article

Hyundai team boss Andrea Adamo issued orders to Neuville and Breen to bring the one-two result home earlier in the day, resulting in the pair reducing the risks taken on afternoon’s challenging tarmac stages. The pair duly followed orders although Neuville did rack up his sixth and seventh stage wins on the way to ending the loop 10.1s ahead of Breen. "Pleased to finish the day ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville claimed the final stage of the morning to extend his lead over Breen to 6.8 seconds after witnessing his overnight advantage halve, as Breen won the opening two stages of the day. However, hopes of a Hyundai top three lock-out were dashed when Ott Tanak dropped from third to sixth overall after picking up a puncture on the first morning test. Toyota’s resurgence continued as Elfyn ...Keep readingView the full article

Katsuta was caught out by a compression on the high speed tarmac road during his run through the 12.49km Dikkebus stage, which triggered a frightening crash. His Yaris WRC car flicked wide into a ditch and sent into a series of violent pirouettes and rolls before clattering into a telegraph pole, which then fell and blocked the stage, forcing organisers to red flag the test. Katsuta and his ...Keep readingView the full article