Jari-Matti Latvala has praised the 100% commitment and team work which has helped carry Toyota to a commanding lead as the 2021 World Rally Championship progresses into its second half. Jari-Matti Latvala has praised the 100% commitment and team work which has helped carry Toyota to a commanding lead as the 2021 World Rally Championship […]
WORDS BY IDA WOODPHOTOGRAPHY BY M-SPORT RALLYING HAS BEEN CRITICISED FOR BEING SLOWER THAN OTHER DISCIPLINES TO SHIFT TO CLEANER METHODS M-Sport Ford team principal Rich Millener says rallying needs to be “a little bit slower” in its approach to incorporating new technologies than other areas of motorsport. The World Rally Championship is adding a […]
Thierry Neuville will receive a hero’s welcome when he arrives in his Belgian homeland for the next round of the World Rally Championship – but that admiration comes with expectation. Neuville has competed at the Renties Ypres Rally Belgium seven times before, most importantly in 2019, when he drove a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. He […]
Renties Ypres Rally Belgium (13 – 15 August) has attracted the biggest entry for an FIA World Rally Championship round in almost six years. The three-day asphalt encounter, which marks Belgium’s first appearance as a WRC host, named 108 competitors on the entry list released today (Friday). That’s the most since Rallye de France – […]
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID COSSEBOOM WORDS BY LUKE BARRY VICTORY ON HIS RALLYING RETURN MAKES THE 10-TIME US CHAMPION NEFR’S MOST SUCCESSFUL DRIVER David Higgins and Craig Drew have won the New England Forest Rally, sealing their first victory in nearly two years upon their American Rally Association presented by DirtFish National series return. Higgins, driving a […]
By Ochieng Oyugi | Kenya’s Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo clocked 2:07:36 to win the third leg of the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) series in Tanzania on Sunday evening. His compatriot Karan Patel emerged second in 2:10:35 as Jeremy Wahome, also of Kenya, finished fifth in 2:22:58. “Congratulations to Tundo and his navigator Tim Jessop for winning […]
By: Tom Howard | motorsport.com Kalle Rovanpera has become the youngest winner in World Rally Championship history after scoring a breakthrough victory at Rally Estonia. The factory Toyota driver produced a measured drive on Sunday to complete the 24-stage gravel rally 59.9s ahead of Hyundai’s Craig Breen, who equalled his best WRC result on his […]
Rally Estonia leader Kalle Rovanperä created breathing space between himself and Craig Breen after a stunning Saturday morning carried the Finn more than half a minute clear. The 20-year-old restarted this seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship with an 8.5sec advantage over the Irishman after Friday’s opening leg and stretched that to 35.7sec […]
Kalle Rovanperä held a slender lead over Craig Breen at Rally Estonia following an action-packed Friday morning that included the shock retirement of pre-event favourite Ott Tänak. Twenty-year-old Rovanperä, who led after Thursday night’s short curtain-raising speed test, won three of the four fast and furious gravel special stages in his Toyota Yaris. Breen was […]
Ott Tänak’s hopes of a fourth consecutive Rally Estonia victory collapsed during a dramatic Friday morning for the home country hero. The Hyundai i20 driver led initially but plunged to seventh after struggling to the finish of SS3 Otepää with a front right puncture. Worse was to follow for Tänak, as he speared off the […]
Kalle Rovanperä laid down a Rally Estonia marker by scorching to fastest time at a sun-kissed shakedown on Thursday morning in which the top three were blanketed by six-tenths. The Estonian-domiciled Finn stopped the clocks five-tenths faster than home hero Ott Tänak in the 6.23km gravel road Abissaare test. Takamoto Katsuta completed the top three, […]
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team will be back up to speed on the high-speed gravel stages of Rally Estonia this week (15-18 July). Teemu Suninen returns to the British squad’s World Rally Car line-up alongside Gus Greensmith in two EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta WRCs. M-Sport’s WRC2 challenge resumes in Estonia with Adrien Fourmaux reverting to a […]
by Graham Harris Local hero’s championship hopes in trouble with Ogier 64 points ahead in title chase. Local driver and former WRC champion Ott Tänak has to deliver this weekend like he did last year on Rally Estonia when it gets under way on Thursday evening, if he has any hope in fighting for the 2021 […]
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MCKLEIN IMAGE DATABASE WORDS BY LUKE BARRY & DAVID EVANS THE HYUNDAI DRIVERS BELIEVES SÉBASTIEN OGIER AND ELFYN EVANS CAN AFFORD SECOND AND THIRD PLACES NOW Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville believes Toyota rivals Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans can afford to back off slightly in the fight for the World Rally Championship title while he […]
Some of the fastest roads in the FIA World Rally Championship await the crews when the 2021 season moves into its second half at Rally Estonia on July 15-18. Some of the fastest roads in the FIA World Rally Championship await the crews when the 2021 season moves into its second half at Rally Estonia […]
Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Jari-Matti Latvala is confident his team can erase the memory of a difficult Rally Estonia last season when the FIA World Rally Championship returns to Tartu (15 – 18 July). Toyota’s Yaris was widely regarded as the favourite for an event run across fast gravel roads, but Hyundai’s Ott Tänak […]
On ŠKODA Motorsport’s home soil, factory-supported Jan Kopecký, this time together with co-driver Jan Hloušek (ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo), won Bohemia Rally for a record ninth time › At the fourth round of the SONAX Czech Rally Championship, ŠKODA Motorsport entered Dominik Stříteský/Jiří Hovorka conquered an impressive second place with their ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo […]
Story by: Matthys Ferreira The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team (WRT) has revealed the new electrified Puma Rally1 rally car for the 2022 Series. The car features a turbocharged 1.6-litre EcoBoost petrol engine with a sophisticated 100kW electric motor and 3.9kWh battery. It will be driven by M-Sport Ford WRT driver Adrien Fourmaux and M-Sport […]
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile and Hyundai Motorsport have joined forces to launch the FIA Rally Champions World Tour, united by a common goal of encouraging and promoting rallying talent from regional series around the world for the next three years. The initiative, which is supported by the FIA Innovation Fund, will nurture drivers […]
By: Tom Howard | motorsort.com Sebastien Ogier says “no sporting results” achieved this season will change his decision to step back from competing full-time in the World Rally Championship next year. 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 […]
By:Tom Howard Sebastien Ogier survived Kenya’s brutal roads to incredibly come from behind to win the iconic Safari Rally on its return to to the World Rally Championship after a 19-year hiatus. The reigning world champion inherited the outright lead with only one of the attritional 18 stages remaining in an impressive comeback, having dropped […]
By:Tom Howard Long-time Safari Rally leader Thierry Neuville has retired from the World Rally Championship event after suffering a damper failure, handing Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta a surprise lead with three stages remaining. 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 […]
The Belgian crew of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe survived heavy rain on the last stage to extend their overall advantage to 57.4 seconds at Safari Rally Kenya on Saturday. The Hyundai driver had managed to keep Toyota rival Takamoto Katsuta at bay over the leg’s other five stages on what had developed into a […]
Thierry Neuville’s Safari Rally Kenya lead climbed to almost half a minute on Saturday morning as the Belgian threw down the gauntlet to his FIA World Rally Championship rivals. Amid stunning scenery and on smoother and faster roads around Lake Elmenteita, the Hyundai i20 pilot was quickest out of the blocks to win the opening […]
By:Tom Howard Thierry Neuville incredibly leads the World Rally Championship Safari Rally despite suffering a puncture on the day’s chaotic final stage that left rival Kalle Rovanpera stranded. Neuville lost his 5.1s lead to Toyota’s Rovanpera on the first of the afternoon stages after the Finn took a commanding win on stage 5, although the […]
Thierry Neuville led Safari Rally Kenya on Friday morning as Africa’s unremitting roads cut a swathe through the FIA World Rally Championship’s big names.Neuville, driving a Hyundai i20, held a 5.1sec advantage over Kalle Rovanperä’s Toyota Yaris, but Kenya’s rugged roads showed they had lost none of their punishing power in the WRC’s 19-year absence. […]
By Ayumba Ayodi Eighteen African countries benefited from 900,000 Euros (Sh115.2 million) in grants from the International Motorsports Federation ((FIA) last year. FIA vice president Surinder Thatthi, who is in charge of Africa, disclosed Tuesday that each of the 18 countries including Kenya, received 50,000 Euros (Sh6.4 million) in donation through Sports Funding Commission for […]
By: Tom Howard Sebastian Ogier edged Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera to win the opening super special stage as the Safari Rally officially made its return to the World Rally Championship. The reigning world champion made light work of the 4.48km two-by-two Kasarani gravel test held in front of a vocal crowd at Kenya’s capital city […]
The mythical Safari Rally Kenya (June 24-27), the most famous rally in the world, returns to the FIA World Rally Championship this week for the first time since 2002. The 6000km open-road blasts of yesteryear around East Africa have evolved to fit the modern WRC, but the Safari’s epic character remains with punishing dirt […]
Sébastien Ogier was quickest in Wednesday afternoon’s Safari Rally Kenya shakedown as drivers took their first opportunity to sample the classic African roads at competitive pace. The FIA World Rally Championship leader headed Toyota Yaris team-mate Elfyn Evans by a tenth of a second through the 5.15km Loldia test, overlooking Lake Naivasha. Thierry Neuville was […]
The world’s leading rally stars will lock horns at this weekend’s Safari Rally Kenya, the most famous rally in the world returning to the FIA World Rally Championship calendar for the first time since 2002. The last time the Safari graced the WRC was the year that nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb recorded his […]
Written by David Evans After almost 20 years, Safari Rally Kenya returns to the World Rally Championship this weekend and the roads north of Nairobi are primed, ready, waiting and completely alien to today’s rallying elite. For nearly two decades the World Rally Championship crown has been missing a gem, but this week, it’s back. […]
The 69th season of European Rally Championship is set to be opened today in Poland. Impressive pack of 102 crews will start high-speed gravel battle in Mikolajki, to finish Polish ERC counter in Warsaw, on Sunday evening (20th of June). Rally Poland – second oldest in the world – marks its 100th anniversary this year. The first […]
Teenage star Oliver Solberg will make his gravel debut in a World Rally Car at next week’s Safari Rally Kenya (24 – 27 June) as a late update to the entry list. The 19-year-old was a star performer when he drove a top-level Hyundai i20 for the first time to seventh place at February’s Arctic […]
The MLS port boss says that the Ford Fiesta WRC 2021 car is strong enough to tackle the Kenyan event In Summary • Our drivers are used to a little bit of tough conditions-Millener • From the look of things, it going to be very demanding-Millener M-Sport Ford World Rally Team remains solid and positive […]
2021 RALLYSTAR NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3 AND 4 It will remain difficult for me to get used to the two in one rally formula – where we actually complete two rallies in two days, but I have moved closer to understanding the current need for it. It is nothing short of pure hell […]
By: Tom Howard Sebastien Ogier further extended his lead in the World Rally Championship with a comfortable victory in Rally Sardinia ahead of Toyota teammate and title rival Elfyn Evans.The reigning world champion and co-driver Julien Ingrassia managed their advantage over Evans in the event’s final four stages on Sunday to claim a 52nd career […]
Sébastien Ogier is on course for a remarkable victory at Rally Italia Sardegna after Saturday’s gruelling second leg decimated his challengers to leave Toyota Gazoo Racing first and second. The FIA World Rally Championship leader will start Sunday’s final leg with a 38.9sec advantage over Yaris World Rally Car team-mate Elfyn Evans after a disastrous […]
Ott Tänak retired from the lead at Rally Italia Sardegna after swiping a rock in Saturday morning’s final speed test. The Estonian had dominated this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship since Friday morning’s start and entered the second pass of the Lerno – Monti di Ala’ test with a comfortable 40.6sec advantage […]
Ott Tänak delivered a near-perfect performance to lead Hyundai Motorsport team-mate Dani Sordo after Friday’s punishing opening leg at Rally Italia Sardegna. Tänak won five of the eight sun-kissed and rocky speed tests in his i20 World Rally Car to build a handy 19.0sec advantage over his Spanish colleague in this fifth round of the […]