Rally

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak has thrown down the first marker at the start of the 2021 World Rally Championship season in Monte Carlo with victory in both of Thursday’s stages. Tyres were the major talking point of the day, with Pirelli replacing Michelin as the WRC’s new control supplier. A shortage of pre-event testing in the

Toyota World Rally Championship driver Elfyn Evans says a safety-first approach is not how he plans to win the 2021 WRC title, despite it almost netting him glory in 2020. A consistent run of points scoring finishes and two victories in Sweden and Turkey meant the Welshman was tipped to become the first British WRC

Toyota World Rally Championship driver Sebastien Ogier says “the most important thing” in his swansong campaign is that the series can stage a more representative season amid continued COVID restrictions. The Frenchman defeated team-mate Elfyn Evans to claim his seventh world title in 2020, but after a flurry of events were cancelled due to the

Sebastien Ogier believes his final World Rally Championship season could be the most open yet, with the defending champion tipping Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera to be a dark horse. Ogier’s last full season in rallying’s top division will get underway at Rallye Monte-Carlo on Thursday afternoon where the Frenchman is targeting a record-breaking eighth victory

Dakar organisers have confirmed Pierre Cherpin has passed away following his crash on Sunday’s seventh stage of the 2021 Dakar Rally. The Frenchman, competing in his fourth Dakar and first since 2015, crashed 178km into last Sunday’s seventh Dakar stage. After being found unconscious he was rushed to hospital in Sakaka for surgery before being

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville has said he will make a decision on remaining with co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe for the remainder of the 2021 World Rally Championship after next week’s Rally Monte-Carlo. On Friday the Belgian announced that his 10-year partnership with fellow countryman Nicolas Gilsoul – which stretched back to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge – had

Toyota driver Nasser Al-Attiyah says he is “not interested” in returning to the Dakar Rally if the rules are not changed to make the fight fair between buggies and 4x4s. Three-time Dakar champion Al-Attiyah suffered a second successive defeat to the JCW buggies fielded by X-raid Mini in 2021, losing out on the crown by

Stephane Peterhansel has secured a record-extending 14th Dakar Rally title after winning the 2021 edition of the event in Saudi Arabia, as Carlos Sainz won the final stage. Peterhansel grabbed the lead after the second of the 12 stages and never surrendered it thereafter, eventually claiming victory by 14m51s from the factory Toyota of Nasser

Stephane Peterhansel has responded to the comments made by Nasser Al-Attiyah and believes the Toyota driver lost the 2021 Dakar Rally because he was too egoistic to win the Prologue. X-raid Mini driver Peterhansel clinched a record-extending 14th Dakar title on Friday, beating Al-Attiyah by just under 15 minutes in what was effectively a two-horse

Thierry Neuville has split from long-term co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul one week before the start of the 2021 World Rally Championship season. Hyundai i20 WRC driver Neuville has entered next week’s shortened Rally Monte Carlo with Martijn Wydaeghe in the navigator’s seat. However, it has yet to be confirmed by Neuville or Hyundai Motorsport whether Wydaeghe’s

Nasser Al-Attiyah secured a fifth stage win of the 2021 Dakar Rally on Thursday, but was unable to make a major dent in Stephane Peterhansel’s lead ahead of Friday’s showdown. Starting third on the road, Peterhansel grabbed an early lead in the shortened 464km test between Alula and Yanbu, heading X-raid Mini team-mate Carlos Sainz

The World Rally Championship will pay its first ever visit to the Arctic Circle at the end of next month after striking a deal with Finnish motorsport’s governing body. Arctic Rally Finland is a direct replacement for Rally Sweden, which was cancelled back in December due to troubling coronavirus case numbers in the Varmland region.

Dakar Rally organisers have presented plans for a cleaner future for the event focused on installing a ‘green bivouac’ and introducing an alternative energy category. GCK Energy and Saudi-based solar energy firm Desert Technologies are ramping up its provisions for solar energy to power the Dakar bivouac and supply charging points for electric vehicles in

Nasser Al-Attiyah believes buggy competitors at the Dakar Rally have an inherent advantage over his Toyota Gazoo Racing squad ahead of the showdown in his victory battle with Stephane Peterhansel. The three-time Dakar winner trimmed overall leader Peterhansel’s advantage by 49 seconds on Stage 10, finishing second to Yazeed Al Rajhi on the stage, to

Overdrive Toyota driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi took top honours in Stage 10 of the Dakar Rally on Wednesday, as Nasser Al-Attiyah narrowly beat Stephane Peterhansel to second. Starting fourth in the 342km loop between Neom and Alula, Al-Rajhi snatched the lead from fellow Saudi Arabian driver Yasir Seaidan at the second waypoint and never looked back,

Stephane Peterhansel has extended his lead in the 2021 Dakar Rally with a dominant victory in Stage 9, as Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz Sr both hit trouble. What had been a six-minute gap between Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah was nearly tripled on Tuesday’s stage as the X-raid Mini driver secured his first stage win of

Rally Northern Ireland promoter Bobby Willis says securing the British round of the World Rally Championship in 2022 would be his “biggest achievement” if he can pull it off. Willis remains “committed” to bringing the series to the Northern Ireland for the first time since 2009, having put his own money behind a business case

Overdrive Toyota driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi overcame the X-raid Mini of Stephane Peterhansel to claim a maiden stage win in the Dakar Rally on Sunday. Peterhansel led much of the 453km Stage 7 between Ha’il and Sakaka, the first part of the two-day marathon stages crews have to do without external assistance, with his advantage stretching

Hubert Auriol, a three-time winner of the Dakar Rally and the first person to win the legendary event on both two wheels and four, has died aged 68. The Ethiopian-born Frenchman, nicknamed ‘The African’, passed away on Sunday “after a long battle with heart disease”, according to Agence France-Presse. Auriol was among the participants of

Nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb has retired from the 2021 Dakar Rally after failing to make it to the finish in Monday’s eighth stage. Competing in the 375km Sakaka and Neom loop that formed the second part of the marathon stage, Loeb suffered two punctures in the first 80km when he had only one

Toyota driver Nasser Al-Attiyah closed the gap to his X-raid Mini rival Stephane Peterhansel with a victory in the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally. Having slipped nearly eight minutes behind Peterhansel with a subdued showing in the first part of the marathon stage, Al-Attiyah brought the deficit back under five minutes with his fourth

Sebastien Loeb has switched focus to development running and supporting Bahrain Raid Xtreme team-mate Nani Roma after his Dakar Rally was wrecked by an eight-hour stop with broken suspension. The nine-time World Rally champion dropped out of Dakar victory contention during Friday’s Stage 6 when his Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme BRX1 stopped 97km into the

Stephane Peterhansel says he considers himself “really lucky” to have finished second on Stage 7 of the Dakar Rally after being hamstrung by two different issues. Peterhansel was fighting for the stage victory with the Overdrive Toyota of Yazeed Al-Rajhi when a wheel rim on his X-raid Mini broke 40km from the finish. After fixing

Dakar Rally director David Castera has responded to criticism from competitors about this year’s roadbook and insists the alterations haven’t been used to “make things difficult on purpose”. A number of Dakar competitors have struggled with navigation frustrations during the opening week, with defending champion Carlos Sainz Sr particularly vocal after his problems on Stage

Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers bounced back from a tough start to the 2021 Dakar Rally to win Thursday’s fifth stage, as Stephane Peterhansel extended his lead over Nasser Al-Attiyah. De Villiers had been lying 22nd overall and third among the factory Toyotas after the opening four stages in Saudi Arabia, but led the 456km

Sebastien Loeb believes the navigational challenges posed to the crews in the 2021 Dakar Rally has taken the emphasis away from the drivers and made it a “race of co-drivers”. The opening week of this year’s Dakar has proved to be challenging from a navigational point of view, with even some of the most experienced

Carlos Sainz clawed back some of the deficit to 2021 Dakar Rally leader Stephane Peterhansel after being unchallenged for victory in Friday’s sixth stage. X-raid Mini driver Sainz led the entirety of the shortened 348km test between Al Qaisumah and Ha’il in Saudi Arabia, extending his advantage at every waypoint to take victory by just

The head of the World Rally Championship is “sad” the series will not get the chance to visit Northern Ireland in 2021, with Rally Ypres confirmed as taking its place. Jona Siebel made the comment after confirming the UK had lost its place on this year’s WRC calendar to the Ypres Rally, marking Belgium’s first

Motorsport UK has confirmed that work is already underway to try and bring about the UK’s swift return to the World Rally Championship after it was dropped for 2021. Months of uncertainty around the 2021 instalment of Rally GB were finally ended on Friday afternoon when the WRC Promoter managing director confirmed it would not

Dakar Rally organisers have elected to shorten the sixth stage of the 2021 event by 100 kilometres (62.13 miles) and delayed its start by 90 minutes. According to a statement from officials, the decision has been made due to a “significant number” of competitors that encountered difficulties on yesterday’s fifth stage. Carlos Sainz was among