Rally

The Belgian suffered the heartbreak of a suspension failure on the final day of the Safari Rally last month, robbing him the chance of a likely victory, which would have been his first triumph since Monte Carlo last year. It was the third rally in a row that Hyundai had suffered a rear suspension failure while one of its drivers was leading comfortably, resulting in boss Andrea Adamo vowing to ...Keep readingView the full article

The blue oval’s interest in WRC has heightened following the introduction of new hybrid Rally1 regulations in 2022, which has resulted in more input into M-Sport’s plans for rallying’s new era. Last week M-Sport became the first team to officially launch its new Rally1 weapon with the unveiling of its all-new Puma at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The launch signified Ford’s renewed ...Keep readingView the full article

This season will be the last of the current iteration of WRC cars, first introduced in 2017, as the championship moves to new hybrid Rally1 regulations next year. The rule change has seen Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford juggle fighting for this year's title with designing, building and developing all-new hybrid cars for next season. While Hyundai has proved it has the fastest car, Toyota is ...Keep readingView the full article

Dates for the opening two events have been confirmed to give teams a firm timeframe to prepare their all-new cars as the WRC prepares to launch its new Rally1 regulations, which will see Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford run hybrid machines. The 2022 campaign, which could extend to 13 events, will once again kick off at Monte Carlo from January 20-23, followed by a trip to Sweden as crews ...Keep readingView the full article

The Irishman will drive the third Hyundai factory entry at the August 13-15 event in place of Spaniard Dani Sordo, who has contested the last three events held on gravel roads. As previously reported, Breen has been drafted back into the line-up for next week’s Rally Estonia, which will be his first WRC event since April’s Rally Croatia, where he and co-driver Paul Nagle finished ...Keep readingView the full article

The British team has taken the covers off its new Rally1 prototype at Goodwood where the car will be completing demonstration runs at the famous Festival of Speed event this week. M-Sport has been working hard behind the scenes developing its new 2022 car although in tests earlier this year it had been running a car based around a Ford Fiesta shell. There had been suggestions that the ...Keep reading View the full article

The governing body announced today that it is already working on wooing the WRC back to Australia, with 2023 the current target. That should be well after Australia re-opens its international borders, something that has led to a number of event cancellations over the past 18 months, including this year's Formula 1 and MotoGP races. “Regaining our place on the international calendar for the ...Keep reading View the full article

The seven-time WRC champion indicated earlier this that he intended to only contest a part campaign next year and dovetail that with possible circuit racing outings. After winning four of the opening six rallies of the season, Ogier’s performances coupled with uncertainty as to how many rallies he will do next season has sparked suggestions he may extend his full-time WRC stay for the full ...Keep reading View the full article

Katsuta produced arguably the drive of his career at last weekend’s Safari Rally to finish second behind Toyota teammate and winner Sebastien Ogier, to claim his first top flight WRC podium. Competing in his first full-time campaign with Toyota, the 28-year-old has impressed this season, and is the only driver to finish inside the top six at all six events to date. Despite a bout of food ...Keep reading View the full article

Vatanen is set to drive the car he shared with David Richards up the famous Goodwood Hill as Prodrive celebrates four decades of motorsport at the July 8-11 event. The iconic Rothmans-liveried Escort has undergone a two-year restoration and will enjoy its first run out at Goodwood as Vatanen and Prodrive chairman Richards are reunited with the car. During the pair’s run to the 1981 WRC ...Keep reading View the full article

The long-awaited return of one of rallying’s most iconic event’s proved a hit with drivers, teams and fans, as Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier triumphed in one of the WRC’s toughest and most spectacular events. The WRC received a particularly warm reception from Kenyan locals as fans lined the streets and filled spectator areas to welcome the championship back after almost two decades ...Keep reading View the full article

Top Performer - Thierry Neuville Reaching the finish of the Safari Rally was an achievement in its own right, such was the challenge Kenya threw at the crews brave enough to tackle it. In the end only five WRC drivers completed the full distance such was the difficulty of the new shortened but just as extreme Safari Rally. While Toyota’s Sebastian Ogier produced yet another masterclass to ...Keep reading View the full article

The seven-time world champion completed an unlikely comeback to win one of rallying’s most iconic events on its return to the WRC calendar for the first time since 2002. Although much shorter than its marathon predecessors, Kenya provided the WRC arguably its one of its toughest rallies as crews tackled tricky gravel and sandy roads, unpredictable wildlife and wild weather. Ogier was among ...Keep reading View the full article

The Korean marque appeared to be on course to win this weekend’s Safari Rally as Thierry Neuville dominated the tough Kenya roads before his right rear damper exploded four stages from the finish. It is the third event in succession where suspension frailties have proved costly for the team. Ott Tanak was leading comfortably in previous rallies in Portugal and Sardinia before suspension ...Keep reading View the full article

The reigning world champion inherited the outright lead with only one of the attritional 18 stages remaining in an impressive comeback, having dropped almost two and half minutes behind on Friday due to a suspension issue. The Toyota driver set a strong pace taking three stage wins on Saturday clawing back time to his Hyundai rivals Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak that both lost ground due to ...Keep reading View the full article

Neuville had been the class of the field having built up a 57.4s lead over 13 of the 18 stages on Kenya’s brutal gravel and sandy roads and was favourite to win the iconic African event on its WRC return after a 19-year hiatus. After a brave drive to maintain his lead in yesterday’s rain-hit final stage, the Belgian’s victory hopes disintegrated in an instant on the first of ...Keep reading View the full article

The Hyundai Motorsport driver produced an impressive display as rain lashed the final stage of the day in Kenya, causing havoc for the leading contenders. Neuville had a 35s lead heading into the 31.04km stage but determined to maintain his lead, he pushed on, delivering a risky drive while rivals slowed and hit trouble. The Belgian cut a frustrated figure at the stage end thinking he had ...Keep reading View the full article

Neuville produced a measured drive in his Hyundai Motorsport i20 over the afternoon’s first two stages, extending his rally lead over Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta to 35 seconds. However, just when the drivers appeared to be finding their feat on Kenya’s tough gravel roads, heavy rain hit, punishing the latter runners on the final 31.04km stage. Neuville took risks, and while he lost 35.1s ...Keep reading View the full article

The Hyundai driver kicked off the day with his fourth stage win before Sebastien Ogier took the spoils in the following two tests as the Toyota driver continued to edge closer to the podium battle. Neuville’s stage win came despite a close call with zebras as wildlife became a factor for all the crews with several drivers having to brake hard to avoid animals on the trio of fast and open ...Keep reading View the full article

The Toyota driver, sitting second in the championship standings, slightly over cut a corner and struck a rock on stage 3 that forced the Welshman to grind to a halt barely a kilometre from the stage end. Evans attempted to repair the car but the damage to the front right suspension that left the wheel hanging off the Yaris was too severe to fix. Forced to witness his rivals come through the ...Keep reading View the full article