IN A STEP WHICH might quickly be mirrored in other motorsport disciplines, a key Touring Car series is moving to daily alcohol checks on drivers and officials. Mandatory breath-testing will now take place on every day at every British Touring Car Championship event, to ensure that all competing drivers and senior championship officials are free […]
THE SIXTH ROUND of the FIA World Rally Championship is held on the tranquil island of Sardinia. But the profile of Rally Italia Sardegna doesn’t quite match its setting.With potentially rally-ending hazards on every stage, next week’s Rally Italia will be anything but tranquil for the WRC crews tackling it. The specific challenges are: The […]
SUBARU RALLY Team USA’s David Higgins and Craig Drew dramatically won the Oregon Trail Rally by overtaking teammates Travis Pastrana and Chrissie Beavis on the next to last stage. The Oregon Trail Rally is the third round of the Rally America National Championship held in Portland and Hood River, Ore. Action sports icon Travis Pastrana […]
MOVISTAR YAMAHA MotoGP returns to Italy for Valentino Rossi’s first home race of the year, the Gran Premio d’Italia this Sunday at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany. The race is also a home Grand Prix for the team itself, being based alongside the historic Monza circuit in Gerno di Lesmo. Rossi prepares to entertain his […]
DEFENDING Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) passed Matt Kenseth with nine laps to go and won the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night for his first victory of the season.Johnson was dominant at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the pole Thursday night and leading 165 of 400 laps in NASCAR’s longest race. Kevin Harvick was second, […]
HYUNDAI rookie Hayden Paddon believes he has learned more in two tests with his new team than in the previous three years added together. Paddon will debut for the German-based squad at next week’s Rally Italia Sardegna and recently tested on gravel and asphalt in France, followed by loose surface work in Poland last week […]
IT IS NOT JUST the lead of the FIA European Rally Championship that will be up for grabs when the Geko Ypres Rally takes place from 19-21 June. The 2014 ERC Asphalt Masters accolade is currently a straight fight between overall championship title chasers Esapekka Lappi and Craig Breen with the Finn 51 points ahead […]
KEVIN ABBRING’s co-driver Seb Marshall says the Dutch ace has the pace to win next month’s Geko Ypres Rally, round six of the FIA European Rally Championship. Abbring and Marshall will head to Belgium on a high following their second-place finish on SATA Rallye Açores recently. And they are hoping for further success in their […]
A RECORD number of cars descended on the Kent-based circuit over the weekend including 37 flame-spitting Supercars, and a full class of TouringCar and Super1600 cars plus the supporting RX Lites Cup. Wildcard entrants Tanner Foust – a two-time Formula Drift Champion – and reigning British Touring Car Champion Andrew Jordan were also part of […]
BUT WHILE the stewards deliberated for hours, the controversy filled the air in the otherwise festive Principality, on the eve of the 2014 Monaco grand prix.Hamilton stopped short of stating clearly that he believes Rosberg made the move on purpose to keep pole. But he came close. “I was on target,” said the Briton. “I […]
RED BULL’S Daniel Ricciardo finished in third to complete the podium for the prestigious race in Monaco; his second podium finish in 2014.Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished fourth with Hulkenberg and Button just behind. Williams Racing’s Felipe Massa placed seventh whilst Jules Bianchi in the Marussia crossed the line eighth. A five second penalty would drop […]
SOME SAID that now they knew where the tough spots were they knew how to get around them so perhaps today might be easier. Nope. Three cars finished the 3rd lap and only one made it around the 4th… With only 4km done yesterday America’s Levi Shirley hoped to do a lot more today to […]
AFTER WINNING two of yesterday’s three gravel stages (stage four was cancelled because of extremely dusty conditions), they controlled matters from the front today, adding another two stage wins (stages five and seven) and finished 49 seconds ahead of Henk Lategan and Barry White (Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000). The VW pair produced the performance of […]
YAZEED PUSHED today to keep Nasser behind him. ‘It was easy today to be clever,’ he said. ‘When I saw his dust in the last 50 kilometers I knew our plan would work.’ With Yazeeds 1st place also his team wins, after three races in a row in the desert and a lot of work […]
CRONJE started day two in his Ford Dealer Ford Fiesta first on the road with a lead of about 46 seconds and in spite of being first on the road he never let go of that lead. Hergen Fekken in the Castrol Toyota Yaris started second, but soon found himself pushed into third overall by […]
WITH SEVEN of the events eleven stages done and dusted Cronje was leading with a total time of 1:25.04.1. He was 54.6 ahead of the chasing Lategan who won stage 6 this morning. Hergen Fekken, who started in second place this morning, found himself demoted to third by his former teammate Lategan and is +1:08.5 […]
SOME PEOPLE made it even more of a challenge for themselves. Rob Butler of Off-Road Armoury and Levi Shirley from the Lucky Dog Racing team all the way from Kansas, USA had an intense build of their two stunning new Euro Fighters. Things were so tight that they missed the prologue as they were still […]
THEY WON two of the day’s three gravel special stages in the Bapsfontein area and will start tomorrow 24 seconds ahead of Hergen Fekken and Carolyn Swan (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris). There were four stages scheduled covering a total distance of some 82 kilometres, but this was unavoidably reduced to 77 kilometres when extremely dusty […]
WORLDCUP leader Vladimir Vasilyev today suffered another blow, losing not only the turbopressure in his engine but also the stage ánd his position in the Worldcup as he will not be able to finish on the podium of the Pharaons Rally. Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar move up one place in the overall ranking […]
IN SECOND overall, and the only one of three works toyota’s entered, was Hergen Fekke, in a Castrol Toyota Yaris. He was 24.2 seconds behind Cronje. In third place ater the end of stage three and 42.0 second of the pace was the Dutch Volkswagen Racing driver in a Volkswagen Polo. He was followed by […]
TODAY WAS a fast and friendly stage through the mountains, allowing the competitors to recuperate after the heat they had yesterday. With the emotions from yesterday still very alive the teams were happy todays roadbook was much easier. ‘It is not a bad thing to have a difficult stage,’ Organiser Abdelhamid Abouyoussef said. ‘There has […]
THE FIRST CAR to leave the start ramp at the RallyStar Driving Academy near Bapsfontein will be the Ford Dealer Team Fiesta of defending champions Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton. They will be followed by current championship leaders Leeroy Poulter/Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris), the visiting Dutch/Belgian duo of Hans Weijs Jnr and Bjorn […]
RICHARDS says a more internet-based approach is vital to take the WRC forward.“The strategy I was ready to pursue 10 years ago was to really drive the internet,” Richards told MN. “Convention says for a promoter that you produce a television show which is very expensive to make in TV quality terms. You try to […]
THE OUTING will not be Ogier’s first venture onto the race track, as the Frenchman contested the Porsche Supercup event supporting last year’s Monaco Grand Prix. However, this time around, the current WRC leader will swap his Volkswagen Polo R WRC – with approximately 315bhp – for an Audi that has well over 550bhp on […]
ON THE STRENGHT of his strong performances in the opening rounds of the European Le Mans Series, McMurry will be joining Chris Dyson and Tom Kimber-Smith in the #41 Greaves Motorsport LM P2 Zytek-Nissan at the French classic. The inaugural Dyson Junior Development Program driver scored fourth-place finishes at both Silverstone in April and this […]
THE CHAMPIONSHIP’S most experienced driver Mikko Hirvonen said: “It would be nice if we could be listened to a little bit more, we all have some ideas about the future.”For me, the idea of the shootout on Sunday is stupid, but my co-driver [Jarmo Lehtinen] came up with a good plan. “Jarmo’s idea is to […]
HE HAS AN eight point lead in the overall title chase over Class B leader Darren Nathan (Sex Trader Polo) with Elke van Vledder in her Class C Golf a further 13 points back. The fight for third in the overall log is a closely contested affair. Waldie Meintjies (Performance Masters / Marty’s Body & […]
JUAN CARLOS Salvatierra claimed his victory with his Speedbrain 450, but today was not about winning but about surviving. With temperatures way over 45 degrees the riders could only hope to stay concentrated on their bikes. Stefano Turchi managed to finish on his KTM 690, together with his teammembers. ‘After the refueling we decided to […]
No place to make a mistake THE CIRCUIT requires complete concentration, commitment, precision and concentration. One slip of focus and a driver will be in the barriers. Despite safety standards improving significantly, the layout has remained largely unchanged. A lap of the 2.075 mile track starts on the start/finish straight, which isn’t straight at all […]
Track workd well for Ducati LAST SEASON’S EVENT event saw Giugliano finish race 1 in sixth position, before battling with the leading group for the duration of race 2 to conclude in fourth position, his best Superbike result at Donington to date. Davies’ best result at the English track up until now was a sixth […]
The battle for America HIGGINS comes fresh off a dramatic Oregon Trail Rally victory over action sports icon, Travis Pastrana, to extend his points standings lead at the beginning of the month. Higgins could strengthen his position even further with another overall victory at STPR, however, his rally won’t be without challenges when Hoonigan Racing’s […]
Top names have entered historic event LYDDEN HILL is steeped in rallycross history: the sport’s inaugural race was staged at the track back in 1967. Introduced by Robert Reed – who was a producer on ITV’s World of Sport programme at the time – the sport quickly grew to become a staple on TV in […]
Maybe Red Bull might (win) in Monaco LEWIS HAMILTON, however, who has won the last four grands prix on the trot, warned that the W05 will once again be difficult to beat even on the tight, twisty streets, where even the main ‘straight’ is not straight. “Things should close up as there are not really […]
Navigation causes some problems ONLY AFTER the first 100 kilometers through canyons and mountains the stage opened up. With a great view the route decended to the riverdelta of the Nile. ‘The beginning of the stage is tough because one mistake means you end up in the wrong canyon,’ organizer Abdelhamid Abouyoussef says. ‘The only […]
R5 cars make their first appearance ALSO back for his first outing since the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo is Slovakian Jaroslav Melicharek who will drive a Fiesta RS. The WRC 2 category features its strongest entry of the season with 26 crews lined up, including the top four in the standings – Yuriy Protasov, Lorenzo Bertelli, […]
Unpredictable conditions Scribante posted a record time of 41.811 seconds on Friday and then raised the stakes to finish in 41.159 seconds on Sunday – not only setting a new record but also making history as the only competitor to win both the Classic Conqueror and King of the Hill titles. Saturday morning a wet […]
Tough competition from the start The prologue near the beach of El Gouna was a short track on gravel and salt, with wet patches from the last high tide. Long curves made it fun to drive, drifting from one side to the other and entertaining the spectators with a spectacular driving style. The competition amoung […]
Win leaves Sousa speechless IT WAS THE SAME 21.3km stage that had proved to be Abbring’s downfall on the final morning, when he went off twice, losing the best part of 20s to Sousa, who had held a narrow lead overnight. Abbring spent the rest of the day clawing back the gap, while Sousa tried […]
Very difficult roads conditions “WE HAD QUITE a big lead on day two, so I just wanted to avoid making any mistakes on the muddy roads. I was under no pressure, and could relax in the Fabia Super 2000, which was perfect – as always,” said Kopecký, who was delighted with his first win at […]
The event brings challenges BY THEIR OWN high standards it has certainly been an inauspicious start to the season: it kicked off with an uncharacteristic mistake in KZN, and then ended prematurely with an equally atypical mechanical breakage in Mpumalanga. This after already having been delayed with a pair of punctures – one on the […]