Rally

In a bid to align the WRC with production cars, Rally1 will adopt plug-in hybrid technology from 2022. This set-up combines an ICE running on sustainable fuels and a battery that produces zero-emissions. However, Ogier has suggested the sport’s key decision makers are lacking both foresight and ambition. While fully supportive of attempts to reduce the WRC’s carbon footprint, the ...Keep reading View the full article

Xavier de Soultrait – a starter of the Dakar on six occasions – was also in the frame for the seat. Loeb said that Lurquin’s experience of rally raid and his knowledge of its inner workings is what “convinced” him. Both men were asked along to a private test in Dubai earlier this month to help Loeb’s decision making. Sharing the news via his official Twitter page, Loeb posted ...Keep reading View the full article

The heavily camouflaged car was driven in anger for the very first time in the south of France this week. It is the first phase of an “intense” European-based testing plan for the hybrid-powered supermini and comes just days after the prototype completed initial system checks at the squad’s base in Alzenau, Germany. Following the test, which was conducted on rough gravel roads, Adamo ...Keep reading View the full article

Audi Sport's return to rally-raid caused some tension even before the German brand revealed the prototype with which it will make its Dakar debut in January 2022. After the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer announced in November 2020 that it would leave Formula E at the end of the 2020/21 season to tackle the world’s toughest marathon, a process of negotiation and analysis followed at the ...Keep reading View the full article

Both three-time Dakar winner Sainz and WRC champion Loeb lashed out at the roadbook over the course of the two-week marathon in Saudi Arabia in January, having lost heaps of time with unrelated navigational troubles. X-Raid Mini driver Sainz said he was “fed up” after getting lost in the desert twice in the first three days, describing the event as more of a ‘gymkhana than a ...Keep reading View the full article

The Norwegian round was due to begin the World RX campaign on the second weekend in June, but the season – the first to run under the leadership of new commercial rights holder Rallycross Promoter GmbH – will now begin at Barcelona in Spain on July 23-24. “Earnest efforts were made by all parties to reach a resolution, but strict border restrictions and the lack of a suitable ...Keep reading View the full article

When the Dakar Rally left its previous home in South America in 2020 as part of a five-year deal with Saudi Arabia, it had left the door open to add more countries to the route after the Gulf nation’s first-year exclusivity clause had expired. However, with travel restrictions preventing rally director David Castera from carrying out inspection and reconnaissance work in new territories, a ...Keep reading View the full article

The one-time Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager, who left his most recent post at Marseille in February, has entered the event's WRC3 category in a Citroen Racing C3 in a bid to heighten awareness of the various charities he supports. The Portuguese 43-year-old tackled last month's Rali Vieira do Minho with co-driver Goncalo Magalhaes as a precursor to his home round of the WRC, finishing ...Keep reading View the full article

Chilean rider Quintanilla joins Honda after five seasons riding for KTM's sister brand Husqvarna, where he scored a best Dakar finish of second in the 2020 edition of the event. He also scored back-to-back FIM Cross-Country Rallies titles with the brand in 2016-17. Quintanilla joining Honda follows the news last month that reigning Dakar champion Kevin Benavides has made effectively the ...Keep reading View the full article

The announcement follows an e-vote last month involving members of the FIA's World Motorsport Council. It means that P1 Racing Fuels will provide the "cutting-edge performance fuel" for the WRC over a three-year period until the end of 2024. According to the FIA, the Galway-based company "was designated as offering the best overall offer across key factors", including cost per litre for ...Keep reading View the full article

The squad said agreeing personal terms with both drivers signalled its intention to lead from the front by working with “two of the most talented and fast” drivers in the WRC. It also believes that by securing the services of Neuville – who scored Hyundai’s first WRC win at Rallye Deutschland in 2014 – and Tanak that it can “efficiently execute the development” of its new Rally1 ...Keep reading View the full article

The Belgian, who will work as an external technical adviser, officially joined the Alzenau-based squad this week. The move brings to an end a successful 19-year spell Loriaux enjoyed with former employer M-Sport Ford who has already started the process of trying to shore up its research and development operations by recruiting a senior designer. In his role with Hyundai Motorsport, Loriaux ...Keep reading View the full article

The son of 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg will once again drive a 2C Competition Hyundai Motorsport i20 Coupe after impressing on his way to seventh during his debut run with the team at February's Arctic Rally Finland. Driving alongside stand-in co-driver Sebastian Marshall, the pair set a string of quick stage times. This will be the second time Solberg has started Rally Italia Sardegna ...Keep reading View the full article

On Tuesday, the British squad released a selection of images of its Rally1 prototype running as a Fiesta on tarmac and gravel. These shots also revealed the FIA’s newly-designed safety cell – another key element of the upcoming rules cycle that is centred around plug-in hybrid technology. Since then, videos have emerged on social media of the car performing gravel testing in Spain, with ...Keep reading View the full article

Fourmaux equalled the British squad’s best result of the season last weekend by completing the Zagreb-based tarmac event in fifth place overall. The 25-year-old was consistently quick across the three days of competition, and managed to set nine top-five stage times with his Ford Fiesta WRC machine. A trip into a grass bank as he negotiated a tight right-hander on cold tyres on the final ...Keep reading View the full article

Based in Zagreb, the third round of the World Rally Championship was well received by each of the manufacturer teams and their crews, and was the 34th new addition since the competition was first established back in the early 1970s. Fans came out in their thousands to watch the action, even though it was not officially open to people, to witness Sebastien Ogier clinch his fifty first career win ...Keep reading View the full article

At the request of Compact Dynamics – the company that won an FIA tender to develop the battery and e-motor for next season’s hybrid-powered cars – Toyota, M-Sport Ford and Hyundai had to send the parts back. While Latvala would not be drawn on the matter, or whether his engineers have had the chance to test the new system - either on a mule or in the workshop – the Finn explained that ...Keep reading View the full article

Video footage of the incident shows the co-driver’s side of Ogier’s Toyota Yaris being hit by another car as he changed lanes on a section of dual carriageway. No one was seriously injured in the incident, although Ogier revealed in the post-event press conference that he had to contend with back pain for the final four stages of the Tarmac event. “The impact was psychological ...Keep reading View the full article

Tanak struggled to match the pace of the front three and finished more than a minute off a podium place in fourth. The Estonian was sure a solution to his poor times could be found following Friday’s six special stages, but despite working closely with his Hyundai engineers he was unable to find a breakthrough he was happy with. Prior to the third round of the WRC, the 2019 title winner ...Keep reading View the full article

The result means that Ogier reclaims the championship lead that he held following his opening round victory in Monte Carlo, with Neuville holding second in the points after logging his third successive podium finish. A bright and early start saw Evans taking the initiative, having struggled to be as ‘brave’ as he felt Saturday’s stages had required him to be. With an abundance of ...Keep reading View the full article