World Rally Championship-winning outfit Prodrive has entered into a joint venture with the Kingdom of Bahrain to develop a new car to contest the Dakar Rally in 2021. The British engineering firm, which claimed drivers’ titles with Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg and a run of three straight manufacturers’ titles between 1995 and

Rally Sweden will go ahead next week albeit eight stages shorter, despite the World Rally Championship event suffering from “unreasonably warm weather” and a lack of snow in the build-up. Event organisers had set a deadline of February 3 for making a decision on whether the rally would go ahead after a lack of snow

Rally Sweden officials are carrying out further inspections ahead of making a final decision on whether the World Rally Championship event will go ahead. A lack of snowfall and warmer than usual conditions in Sweden have meant the usual thick layer of snow has not formed on the surface of the stages. A decision on

Reigning World Rally champion Ott Tanak crashed spectacularly out of the Rally Monte Carlo, but can the Hyundai driver bounce back immediately on Rally Sweden? That’s the main focus of discussion on this edition of the Gravel Notes podcast, as David Evans believes the accident won’t slow the Estonian down, despite crashing so early into

The FIA will begin a global search for the next generation of World Rally champions later this year, when Rally Star is launched in the summer. In an attempt to make Rally Star as accessible as possible, drivers under the age of 24 or 25 (still to be defined) will be able to enter via

Monte Carlo Rally winner Thierry Neuville says Elfyn Evans’s performance on the season-opener has demonstrated he will be in the fight for this year’s World Rally Championship title. Evans, who switched from M-Sport to Toyota in the winter, posted four fastest times, led the Gap-based event for eight of 16 stages and ran in the

Hyundai has added World and European Rally Championship competitors to its Customer Racing Junior Driver squad for 2020. Ole Christian Veiby and Nikolay Gryazin are contesting the WRC 2 championship this season with manufacturer backing from Hyundai, and both of those drivers have been added to the junior programme. Veiby retired from last weekend’s Monte,

Reigning World Rally champion Ott Tanak wants to be back in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC as soon as possible following his high-speed crash out of last week’s Monte Carlo Rally. Tanak – who won last year’s WRC title with Toyota – switched to Hyundai for 2020, but crashed his i20 Coupe WRC out of

Oliver Solberg will contest a partial schedule in a factory-supported Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo this season, as predicted by Autosport. The 18-year-old son of 2003 World Rally champion Petter will make his first appearance in a Skoda next month in Sweden, though the full details of his 2020 programme have not been confirmed. He will

Irishman Craig Breen has talked of his relief at being handed a “career lifeline” in the shape of a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC drive at next month’s Rally Sweden. Breen, who joins Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak in the Korean team, is delighted to be going back to the scene of his best ever WRC

Thierry Neuville has taken victory ahead of Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier in a thrilling end to the 2020 World Rally Championship season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. Neuville was in imperious form on Sunday, winning both stages in the first loop, and he maintained that as he won the 18.41km La Bollene Vesubie – Peira Cava test, 1.4

Thierry Neuville has taken victory ahead of Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier in a thrilling end to the 2020 World Rally Championship season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. Neuville was in imperious form on Sunday, winning both stages in the first loop, and he maintained that as he won the 18.41km La Bollene Vesubie – Peira Cava test, 1.4

Thierry Neuville has taken the lead of the Monte Carlo Rally after the Hyundai World Rally Championship driver won both of Sunday morning’s stages to move ahead of Elfyn Evans. Neuville continued his strong form to dominate the morning loop, winning the opening SS13 stage. That stage win meant he closed the gap to leader

Thierry Neuville dominated the Saturday afternoon loop on the Monte Carlo Rally as the top three converged, though Toyota World Rally Championship driver Elfyn Evans maintained his lead. Evans went into the afternoon loop 4.8 seconds ahead of his Toyota team-mate Ogier, but lost all of that advantage when Ogier went second fastest on the

Elfyn Evans snatched back the lead of the Monte Carlo rally from his Toyota World Rally Championship team-mate Sebastien Ogier after a strong Saturday morning loop. Ogier started the morning with a 1.2-second lead over his team-mate, and extended it by 1.6s on the opening SS9 stage, but Evans fought back on the La Breole-Slonnet

Sebastien Ogier has edged ahead of Toyota World Rally Championship team-mate Elfyn Evans to claim the Monte Carlo Rally lead after a strong Friday afternoon loop. Six-time WRC Monte Carlo Rally winner Ogier closed in on Evans by topping the first two stages of the afternoon’s three-stage loop, and then on the final stage of

Toyota debutant Elfyn Evans seized the Monte Carlo Rally lead from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville after dominating Friday morning’s loop of stages, while reigning World Rally Champion Ott Tanak crashed out. Evans topped all three of the morning’s stages in his Yaris to establish an advantage of 8.9 seconds over Neuville. Evans took the overall lead

Reigning World Rally champion Ott Tanak has crashed out of the 2020 Monte Carlo Rally on his Hyundai debut, after a spectacular high-speed off on Friday morning. Tanak left the road halfway into the morning’s second stage, the 12.8-mile Saint-Clement-sur-Durance – Freissinieres SS4 test. Tanak ran out of road at high speed exiting a right-left

Thierry Neuville dominated the second stage of the Monte Carlo Rally as he outshone his new Hyundai World Rally Championship team-mate Ott Tanak and Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier. Neuville was 6.4 seconds slower than Toyota’s 2020 arrival Ogier on the opening Malijai – Puimichel test, but went more than 25s faster than anyone else on stage

Elfyn Evans says he has no excuses not to make the most of his Toyota World Rally Championship move as he prepares to make his debut for the manufacturer. Evans switched from M-Sport to arguably the best-funded team, Toyota, in the off-season, and will make his first start alongside six-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier and

Six-time Le Mans winner and 1983 Dakar Rally winner Jacky Ickx believes fellow ex-Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso can win win the long-distance off-road event, having followed Alonso’s first outing. Alonso finished 13th during this month’s Dakar in Saudi Arabia at the wheel of a factory Toyota Hilux 4×4, although the two-time Formula 1 champion

Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville will donate up to €10,000 to a local charity or association at each round of the World Rally Championship in 2020. Neuville, who has 12 WRC wins and has finished second in the championship for the last three seasons, announced on his Facebook page that he will donate €2000 at each

The FIA has confirmed changes to the World Rally Championship calendar following the loss of Rally Chile due to social unrest in the country. The governing body’s World Motor Sport Council approved Chile’s request to withdraw from the 2020 WRC calendar. While there had been speculation of a 14th round being drafted in, WMSC confirmed

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas finished ninth on this weekend’s Arctic Lapland Rally in Finland, which was won by new Toyota World Rally Championship driver Kalle Rovanpera. Bottas was driving a previous-generation Citroen DS3 World Rally Car, and started his second attempt at the snow and ice rally auspiciously by posting the second-fastest time

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso says he has yet to decide if he will return to the Dakar Rally, after finishing 13th on his debut in 2020. Since exiting F1, Alonso has sampled various categories of motorsport and has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, as well as the World Endurance

Two-time World Rally champion Carlos Sainz Sr has secured this third Dakar Rally victory in the 2020 edition of the event, held in Saudi Arabia for the first time ever. Sainz, the father of McLaren Formula 1 driver Carlos Jr, finished more than six minutes clear of defending winner Nasser Al-Attiyah after 12 stages. Representing

The final stage of the Dakar Rally on Friday will be shortened due to the construction of gas pipelines in the planned route. Originally 151.6 miles of the last stage were due to be timed and conclude the event, but now the crews will be timed over 103.1 miles. Works for new gas pipelines are

For the first time in the history of the World Rally Championship, the series will start in 2020 without a driver running with number one on the doors. Ott Tanak won the WRC title last year and had the right to take the number one for his car during the 2020 season, ending a five

Stephane Peterhansel set the pace in the penultimate stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally, but X-raid Mini stablemate Carlos Sainz Sr retains a healthy lead ahead of the marathon’s finale. Sainz had to open the road in the 235-mile timed special within the stage, taking the competition back to Haradh from Shubaytah. He consequently gave

X-raid Mini driver Carlos Sainz has taken a commanding lead in the 2020 edition of the Dakar Rally after topping stage 10, which was suspended before the halfway point. The Haradh – Shubaytah test was due to feature 534 kilometres of timed competition in the Rub’ Al Khali desert, but worsening weather conditions forced the