Autosport is saddened to report the passing of former Mitsubishi Ralliart team principal and London to Sydney Marathon winner Andrew Cowan. Cowan retired from the Mitsubishi World Rally Championship team at the end of the 2005 season, having directed the Japanese manufacturer’s dominance of Group A rallying in the late ’90s. It was under Cowan’s
Rally
Criticism of the Llandudno Wales Rally GB service park could be answered if the World Rally Championship follows the lead of Formula 1, according to M-Sport team boss Richard Millener. Britain’s round of the WRC was criticised by some teams due to the Llandudno town centre service park which was disjointed and unable to bring
Citroen has revealed the most radical aerodynamic updates seen since the start of the new era of World Rally Cars in 2017 ahead of Rally Spain. The French team has been testing its car in Spain ahead of next week’s Salou-based event, a crucial event in Ogier’s efforts to take his seventh straight championship and
Hyundai team boss Andrea Adamo says he is taking a “big picture” view of whether to keep Craig Breen for the 2020 World Rally Championship season. Former Citroen driver Breen was given an initial Hyundai chance in Finland, where he impressed the team with seventh place after giving up sixth to help Thierry Neuville’s title
With competition out on the stages, and controversy in the service park, Wales Rally GB threw up another exciting World Rally Championship event Llandudno. The moving of the service park to seaside town Llandudno is the chief topic of conversation for the latest episode of the Gravel Notes podcast with David Evans, as Autosport’s rallies
Dani Sordo will remain a Hyundai driver next season, sharing an i20 Coupe WRC for seven of next year’s 14 rounds of the World Rally Championship. Sordo had been linked with a move to Toyota but Autosport reported last month that he was set to stay at Hyundai into a seventh season instead. The Spaniard,
Kris Meeke is edging ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala in the race to stay at Toyota for the 2020 World Rally Championship due to his greater consistency. With Toyota thought likely to keep WRC leader Ott Tanak and to have already signed 19-year-old WRC 2 Pro champion Kalle Rovapera, Tanak’s current team-mates Meeke and Latvala are
The FIA is stepping up its efforts to simplify the World Rally Championship’s class structure into a five-tier ladder of progression. Last week’s FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting agreed on revisions to current regulations in an effort to streamline WRC 2 Pro and WRC 2. This is part of FIA rally director Yves Matton’s
Kris Meeke continues to lead Rally GB for Toyota, but is under heavy pressure from reigning World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier. Fastest times on both Elsi and Penmachno – the afternoon loop’s two full-length stages – launched Citroen driver Ogier forwards from the fifth place in which he had ended the morning. He is now
World Rally Championship stewards decided against penalising Sebastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen for deviating from the prescribed Rally GB route because of how the stage was marked. Controversy had erupted in Wales on Friday when it was suggested the three drivers had not followed the correct route through a chicane after the finish
Rally GB’s Great Orme stage has been called off because rough weather conditions mean the team of divers required for safety reasons cannot get close enough to the stage. The 2.945-mile asphalt stage on the famous headland near Llandudno was due to conclude Sunday morning’s loop of the World Rally Championship round. Part of the
Ott Tanak strengthened his World Rally Championship title bid with victory on Rally GB, scoring a maximum 30 points by topping the Brenig powerstage. Toyota team-mate Kris Meeke had led early on Friday morning, with Tanak starting on the back foot after a mistake on the rally-opening Oulton Park superspecial. A storming drive on the
Thierry Neuville scored two Rally GB stage wins to take second place from World Rally Championship title rival Sebastien Ogier on Saturday afternoon, though Toyota’s Ott Tanak still leads. Tanak suffered a scare early on the Sweet Lamb stage when a compression ripped the rear bumper off his Toyota Yaris WRC, which caused additional noise
Ott Tanak added another 0.9 seconds to his Rally GB lead by winning the Colwyn Bay spectator stage, further increasing the Toyota driver’s advantage over his World Rally Championship rivals. Based around the promenade of Colwyn Bay, only a few miles away from rally HQ in Llandudno, the short 1.5-mile stage was the only night
World Rally Championship points leader Ott Tanak has edged further ahead of chief rival Sebastien Ogier on Rally GB, but Elfyn Evans dominated the Saturday morning loop for M-Sport. Evans had lost nearly a minute on Friday with damaged suspension after contact with a bank on Elsi but has now surged back up the leaderboard
A row over alleged deviation from the prescribed route of a Rally GB chicane could have a significant impact on the result of this weekend’s World Rally Championship round. Sebastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen are all understood to have deviated from the route at a chicane following the finish of the short Slate
Ott Tanak stormed into the Rally GB lead on Friday night’s stages, leaping from fourth to first while erstwhile leader and Toyota World Rally Championship team-mate Kris Meeke fell back. Tanak benefited from running first on the road for Dyfnant, winning the stage by 5.7 seconds from Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen in near-daylight conditions as drivers
Toyota’s Kris Meeke kept himself in the lead of his home World Rally Championship round, Rally GB, on a very wet Friday morning. Though Meeke did not win any of the loop’s four stages, his consistently quick pace meant he headed for service with a six-second lead over Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville. Meeke managed to
Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso says this week’s Morocco Rally will give him a “concrete” idea of whether he wishes to continue with plans to contest the Dakar Rally. Alonso faces his first major test in his fledging cross-country rallying career in the five-day event based around Fez, the traditional warm-up event for next
Kris Meeke leads Rally GB following the Oulton Park opener, with Petter Solberg a sensational third and World Rally Championship leader Ott Tanak only 13th after an error. Crews were greeted with an extremely wet and slippery stage for Oulton’s first appearance on a WRC itinerary since 1993, with the 2.25-mile mix of asphalt and
Autosport previews this weekend’s Rally GB with a special podcast episode recorded live from the World Rally Championship service park, in association with the new Gravel Notes podcast. Autosport Rallies Editor David Evans is joined in Llandudno by drivers including 2003 World Rally champion Petter Solberg and 2017 Rally GB winner Elfyn Evans as they
Elfyn Evans has been told he can take risks to win his home World Rally Championship round as he returns for Rally GB after missing three rallies through back injury. Evans won Rally GB in 2017 driving a Fiesta WRC on DMACK tyres, as opposed to the standard Michelins, and challenged pacesetter Ott Tanak on
The Wales Rally GB organiser says there is “nothing forecast that would concern us in the special stages” for this weekend’s World Rally Championship event, despite uncertainty over Hurricane Lorenzo. The hurricane is approaching the UK from the south-east, and a weekend of heavy rain and flood warnings remain in place on Tuesday, causing uncertainty
Craig Breen’s chances of driving a Hyundai World Rally Championship car on the season-closing Rally Australia rest on a good performance from his rival team-mate Dani Sordo on Rally Spain. Sordo, who misses this week’s Wales Rally GB, sits 10th in the driver’s standings – but he is only 22 points off fourth place. A
Japan, Kenya and New Zealand all return to the World Rally Championship calendar in 2020, with Australia, Corsica and Spain all dropped from the schedule. Germany’s Bostalsee-based round had been expected to be dropped, but was saved at the expense of Catalunya. Germany does, however, move from a summer date to mid-October. Rally GB is
Dani Sordo is expected to remain with Hyundai in the World Rally Championship for a seventh season in 2020, despite speculation about a move to Toyota. The 36-year-old took his first win since 2012 earlier this season in Sardinia and has been in contention for podiums on most events he has contested this year. His
FIA president Jean Todt is disappointed the World Rally Championship has not embraced hybrid technology sooner and admits the governing body should have pushed harder for the move. Key aspects of the hybrid future of the World Rally Championship are being discussed by the FIA’s technical working group this week with decisions set to be