Rally Poland looks set to lose its round of the World Rally Championship for 2018 following safety infringements on last week’s event. The FIA gave Rally Poland a yellow card warning after spectator control problems in 2015 and it would have been automatically ejected from the WRC had those issues been repeated last year. Sources
Month: July 2017
More manufacturers than ever are going into this month’s Spa 24 Hours with a chance of victory, according to Blancpain GT Series boss Stephane Ratel. Ratel is predicting an “amazing level of competition” at the double-points Endurance Cup round of the BGTS on July 29/30 in which nine manufacturers are represented with factory-backed cars in
World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier says there was no point try to ‘force’ a Rally Poland result with “kamikaze” risks. Winner Thierry Neuville cut Ogier’s advantage to 11 points last weekend, as the reigning WRC champion had two punctures, a spin and an alternator problem. Ogier fell as low as sixth but finished third,
Tech3 Yamaha rider Jonas Folger believes his breakthrough ride to second in last weekend’s MotoGP German Grand Prix can act as a springboard for similar results in the future. Folger pushed Honda’s Marc Marquez during Sunday’s Sachsenring race, enjoying a five-lap spell in the lead and staying within one second of the reigning champion before
An outbreak of the Phytophthora ramorum tree disease has forced Rally GB organisers to make a second significant change to the route for Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship. The fungus-like disease has been discovered on trees on Myherin, which is the first gravel stage of the October 26-30 rally. As a result, it
Jack Miller is set to switch to the Pramac Ducati MotoGP team for 2018, taking Scott Redding’s ride, Autosport has learned. Miller’s three-year factory Honda expires at the end of this year, meaning he had to reach a deal with Marc VDS directly. He instead he took up an option to join Pramac, which is
Marc Marquez’s clash with Maverick Vinales in Sachsenring qualifying shows he is “playing” with his MotoGP rivals and will win the title, according to Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow. Vinales had to abort a flying lap after contact with Marquez in German Grand Prix qualifying. Reigning champion Marquez, who went on to win the race and
Honda has identified the flawed part behind the rash of reliability problems in its IndyCar season, including Fernando Alonso’s failure in the Indianapolis 500. Art St Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development, did not identify the component in question but described it as an internal part that has been used for three years and not
Porsche has committed to the remainder of the Intercontinental GT Challenge series combining the top GT3 enduros around the world. The German manufacturer has revealed that it will provide factory support for teams competing in the new California 8 Hours fixture at Laguna Seca in October and the Sepang 12 Hours in December, the final
Suzuki legend Kevin Schwantz says Andrea Iannone just “needs to get on with the job” after a dismal first half of the 2017 MotoGP season. Iannone joined Suzuki for this year after two seasons at the works Ducati team that included a race win, but he has taken only four points finishes – none higher
BMW DTM driver Tom Blomqvist will make his Spa 24 Hours debut later this month with the factory Rowe Racing squad. The 23-year-old Briton will drive the #98 BMW M6 GT3 in the double-points Endurance Cup round of the Blancpain GT Series on July 29/30 together with Bruno Spengler and Nicky Catsburg. Blomqvist has been
Rally Poland winner Thierry Neuville has admitted he was frustrated by his rivals’ inability to keep World Rally Championship title rival Sebastien Ogier off the podium on Sunday. Neuville’s third victory of 2017 cut Ogier’s lead from 18 to 11 points with five rounds of the season remaining. Ogier looked as though he would finish
Sachsenring MotoGP race winner Marc Marquez says he did not expect to lead the points standings heading into the summer break. The reigning champion extended his unbeaten run of premier class German Grand Prix victories to five on Sunday, beating Tech3 Yamaha rookie Jonas Folger. Marquez’s win, his second of the season, also vaulted him
Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo says he was braced for “a much worse” MotoGP German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, despite finishing outside the top 10. Three-time champion Lorenzo started Sunday’s race sixth on the grid and ran as high as third early on, behind the leading works Hondas of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo
Valentino Rossi says he was relieved to finish in the top five of MotoGP’s German Grand Prix given the problems of his Sachsenring weekend. The Yamaha rider admitted to being “in trouble” after Friday practice in both dry and wet conditions, and having found enough speed on Saturday morning to qualify for Q2 he was
Pramac Ducati rider Scott Redding described Sunday’s German Grand Prix the “worst race of my career” amid uncertainty about his MotoGP future. Redding started 23rd of of 24 riders and made little progress in the Sachsenring race, ending up a full minute behind race winner Marc Marquez and only narrowly fending off Alex Rins to
Thierry Neuville reduced Sebastien Ogier’s World Rally Championship lead to 11 points by winning an incredibly hard-fought Rally Poland. The event featured 11 changes of lead and until Saturday afternoon no one managed to extend an advantage beyond 4.5 seconds out front, despite heavy rain making conditions extremely challenging on Friday in particular. What began
Thierry Neuville now has a clear path to Rally Poland victory after a mistake from his lead rival Ott Tanak on Sunday morning. Tanak had grabbed first place back from Neuville by setting the pace on the opening Orzysz stage, where the M-Sport Ford beat the Hyundai by 4.9 seconds and moved ahead overall by
Ricky Stenhouse Jr took his second NASCAR Cup race victory in a heavily disrupted event at Daytona. This victory means that both of Stenhouse’s Cup victories have come in restrictor plate races, following the Roush Fenway Racing driver’s Talladega win in May. There was a late sprint for the chequered flag following a red flag
Thierry Neuville moved back into a narrow Rally Poland lead on Saturday evening after the latest twists in the close-fought World Rally Championship battle. Neuville had fallen from first to second on the Pozezdrze stage when he picked up a rear puncture on his Hyundai. But while that put Ott Tanak’s M-Sport Ford into a
The battle for Rally Poland victory was thrown into chaos on SS16 when lead combatants Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak and Jari-Matti Latvala all hit trouble. Tanak emerged in the lead but without a rear wing and Latvala retired, but Neuville is likely to be in the best situation as though he has fallen to second
Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak continued to swap the Rally Poland lead on Saturday morning, while World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier damaged his car and dropped back to sixth. Neuville began and ended the loop with a 1.3-second lead over Tanak, but they swapped positions twice in between. Though it initially looked like Neuville