Rally

Craig Breen says his confidence is “higher than normal” ahead of his planned return to Hyundai’s World Rally Championship line-up for Rally Finland. Last month, the Irishman was named in the South Korean manufacturer’s three-car team for Rally Finland, alongside Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville. Running from 6-9 August, the Jyvaskyla meeting is due to

The World Rally Championship has pledged to wait until the last minute before cancelling any of its remaining rallies and remains confident of hosting at least four more events before the end of the year. The WRC was able to complete its opening three rounds in Monaco, Sweden and Mexico before the worsening coronavirus pandemic

For many fans, Group B was the golden era of the World Rally Championship, but it came at a high price. DAVID EVANS looked back at the rise and demise of the WRC’s most spectacular machines in the 18 August 2016 issue of Autosport magazine Rally cars go around corners far faster today than they

Group B’s uncrowned champion Markku Alen has fond memories of the World Rally Championship’s most revered era, despite being stripped of its final title. First shared with Autosport in 2016, it has been reproduced online to celebrate the latest in a series of free episodes from Motorsport.tv’s Duke Classic archive reliving the twists and turns

The returning World Rally Championship rounds in New Zealand and Japan are set to be axed from the 2020 schedule due to economic and logistical hurdles, Autosport has learned. The 2020 WRC season has been on an extended hiatus since March because of the coronavirus pandemic, with only three of the original 13 rounds so

The boss of M-Sport’s World Rally Championship programme says work on a new 2022 car is currently progressing “very well” despite most of his workforce being furloughed. With the WRC on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Richard Millener confirmed the free time is being used to fast-track elements of the project, although it has

Reigning World Rally champion Ott Tanak believes his start with the Hyundai team has been better than expected, despite a serious crash and his 24-point deficit to leader Sebastien Ogier. Tanak ended Ogier’s run of six world titles with Toyota last year, but decided to join Hyundai alongside Thierry Neuville for 2020. That move allowed

The Safari Rally in Kenya has become the second World Rally Championship event to be cancelled outright in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The East African event was due to return to the WRC calendar for the first time since 2002, scheduled as the eighth round on 16-19 July on the original

Efforts to bring the World Rally Championship to Northern Ireland for the first time in 11 years have been labelled “very, very exciting” by the province’s new Secretary of State. Brandon Lewis told the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee on Thursday afternoon that he is keen to work with those stakeholders behind the bid, saying:

Long before Sebastiens Loeb and Ogier dominated the WRC, fellow Frenchman Didier Auriol was a major contender. He spoke to Autosport’s KEITH OSWIN for the 22/29 December 1994 issue, shortly after prevailing in a titanic scrap with Carlos Sainz to score his first world title Didier Auriol dismissed the Network Q RAC Rally as just

Northern Ireland’s former Secretary of State was “on the cusp” of granting the province the chance to stage the British World Rally Championship round in 2021, it has emerged. The revelation was made as Julian Smith MP – who was removed from his post as part of a cabinet reshuffle in February – gave evidence

Carlos Sainz has beaten Sebastien Loeb to be named the greatest driver in World Rally Championship history in a poll run by the series promoter. The 1990 and 1992 WRC champion, who celebrated his third Dakar Rally win earlier this year, went up against nine-time world champion Loeb in the head-to-head final, with the Spaniard

Motorsport Heroes, the feature-length documentary available to watch on Motorsport.tv, follows the incredible racing careers of five icons of the sport. In this preview clip of the film, WRC hero Michele Mouton remembers a career-defining call. From the director behind the award-winning Senna, Manish Pandy’s 111-minute documentary Motorsport Heroes is a must-see for all fans

Rally Portugal has become the first event on this year’s World Rally Championship schedule to be cancelled outright as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Originally scheduled as the sixth round of the 2020 campaign, the Porto-based event was due to take place on 21-24 May before it was indefinitely postponed in late March

Dakar Rally director David Castera says the world-famous rally raid will take place in January 2021, but may abandon plans to involve extra countries in next year’s route. The coronavirus pandemic, which has already recorded almost three million confirmed infections and more than 200,000 deaths worldwide, has also severely affected sporting events. Among them, motorsport

Despite every hackneyed cliché, natural talent doesn’t exist. Sadly, there is no gene for the perfect Scandinavian flick or negotiating Eau Rouge flat out. These are skills that take countless hours to develop and are possessed by the rarest of breeds. Yet, relentless hard work alone isn’t enough to succeed, either. Raising a champion requires

In Motorsport Heroes, the full-length feature film by Manish Pandey now available on Motorsport.tv, four legends of our sport share their successes, failures, personal struggles and life-threatening accidents. One of those heroes is Michele Mouton, who talks about how her WRC career ended amid the tragedy of the 1986 Tour de Corse. Mouton, who is

Motorsport Heroes, the feature-length documentary available to watch on Motorsport.tv, follows the incredible racing careers of five icons of the sport. One of those heroes is four-time World Rally Championship event winner and 1982 title runner-up Michele Mouton, who recalls her pioneering rally career. From the director behind the award-winning Senna, Manish Pandy’s 111-minute documentary

World Rally Championship winner Petter Solberg says he is in discussions with two car manufacturers to return to the WRC with his own team. The 2003 world champion with Subaru, Solberg won 13 WRC events in a decorated career that included a three-year stint as an independent following Subaru’s withdrawal in 2008. He officially retired

The FIA has confirmed the appointment of Compact Dynamics as the exclusive supplier of hybrid systems to the World Rally Championship from the 2022 season. The FIA launched an invitation to tender last year for the 2022‐2024 seasons when the next generation of Rally1 vehicles are introduced. FIA rally director Yves Matton has previously told

M-Sport World Rally Championship driver Esapekka Lappi admits he was “surprised” that six-time champion Sebastien Ogier elected to continue after losing the 2019 title to Ott Tanak. Ogier had rejoined the Citroen team last season after two years driving M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta WRC car, but Tanak’s breakthrough title ended Ogier’s streak of six titles in

The 2020 World Rally Championship has been hit by further delays due to the coronavirus outbreak, with Rally Portugal and Sardinia officially being postponed. Last week’s Rally Mexico was ended early as a result if impending travel restrictions in the US threatening travel chaos for the paddock. Winner Sebastien Ogier said afterwards that the rally

Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville believes that the proposed World Rally Championship’s technical regulations for 2022 will make it “less interesting” and water down the driving appeal of the series. When they are presented to the FIA’s World Motorsport Council in June this year, the proposals will see increasing reliance on off-the-shelf components and a reduction

Saturday morning’s World Rally Championship loop on Rally Mexico had the three different drivers winning stages, with overnight leader Sebastien Ogier continuing to hold a secure lead. A revised starting order for the new day put Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville at the front of the field, sweeping the stages after retiring on Friday with an electrical

Six-time champion Sebastien Ogier took his first win in the World Rally Championship as a Toyota driver on this weekend’s truncated Rally Mexico. Ogier delivered a commanding performance to join fellow Frenchman Sebastien Loeb as the only six-time winners of the event, elevating him to the top of the championship table, eight points clear of

The World Rally Championship’s Rally Mexico event will end this evening to allow participants to get home as travel restrictions mount worldwide to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The FIA announced the early termination of the third date of the 2020 WRC in view of the increased precautionary measures being introduced to protect the

Toyota World Rally Championship driver Sebastien Ogier leads M-Sport’s Teemu Suninen by 12 seconds after Friday’s Rally Mexico stages. Having assumed the lead on the second stage of the morning loop, Ogier quietly got on with the job of building a cushion while rest of the front-runners struggled. The Frenchman’s Toyota team-mate, championship leader Elfyn

Six-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier put his stamp on this week’s Rally Mexico with an assured first loop of stages in the mountains outside Guanajuato. Having admitted to being preoccupied by the threat of Coronavirus ahead of the event, Ogier delivered on his promise to banish such thoughts on the first full day and

Joint World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville stunned a capacity crowd in Guanajuato to take the overnight lead at the start of the 2020 Rally Mexico. On his first pass through the short opening stage layout, Neuville’s time of 59.1 seconds put him 0.4s in front of the driver with whom he shares the top

The World Rally Championship has announced that next month’s Rally Argentina has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Deferring the date of the rally, originally scheduled to take place on 23-26 April, comes at the direction of the Cordoba provincial government in accordance with new measures implemented by the government of the Argentine Republic