World Rally Championship debutant Oliver Solberg almost missed this weekend’s Rally GB after failing his road-car theory test last week. Solberg, the son of 2003 champion Petter, has won five rallies in his Volkswagen Polo R5 in Estonia and Latvia this year, and also won on his European Rally Championship debut in Latvia. He will

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

Citroen is conducting a crucial pre-Rally GB test in Wales this week to decide whether it deploys suspension updates for the next World Rally Championship round. The team will not make a call on whether the new parts it has available for next month’s rally will be used in competition until the three-day test is

FIA president Jean Todt says the delay in delivery of the World Rally Championship calendar is a reflection of the series’ growing popularity. Present at last week’s Rally Turkey, the president of the sport’s governing body said the 2020 schedule of events would be announced in soon. FIA rally director Yves Matton admitted the October

Toyota World Rally Championship team principal Tommi Makinen has repeated his call for the return of run-flat style mousse inserts for WRC tyres at Rally Turkey. Tyre mousse is a ring of foam put inside a tyre before it is fitted to a rim, allowing the tyre to stay at least partially inflated even after

Gus Greensmith rebounded from rolling and changing a tyre in a ditch to give the Ford Fiesta R5 Mk II a maiden World Rally Championship class win in Turkey. Greensmith, who had completed much of the development work on the British team’s second R5 car, was comfortably in control of the WRC’s main support category

Rally Turkey winner Sebastien Ogier has urged his Citroen Racing team to push for further developments and not be distracted by its first World Rally Championship one-two in four years. The C3 WRC led for 15 out of 17 stages on the rough roads around Marmaris last weekend, with Ogier leading home team-mate Esapekka Lappi

Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso’s Dakar Rally preparation began with a roll during his first competitive rally-raid event with Toyota in South Africa last weekend, finishing 16th overall. Alongside new navigator Marc Coma, Alonso endured a turbulent start to his off-road career in the two-day Lichtenburg 400, a round of the South African Cross

M-Sport Ford World Rally Championship driver Elfyn Evans will be back in a rally car for the first time in more than two months this week, following a back injury. The Welshman has spent the last 10 weeks on the sidelines following the injury sustained at July’s Rally Estonia – a non-WRC event used as

Sebastien Ogier secured his third World Rally Championship win of 2019 on Rally Turkey, beating Citroen team-mate Esapekka Lappi by almost 20 seconds. Ogier took the rally lead from Lappi at the end of Saturday after the Finn made a small mistake and overshot a corner, and continued to pull out time over his team-mate

Reigning World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier edged into the lead of Rally Turkey, as his Citroen team-mate Esapekka Lappi made a mistake in the afternoon loop on Saturday. Ogier’s afternoon got off to the perfect start as he won SS11 Yesibelde for the second time, having also won the same stage in the morning loop,

Esapekka Lappi maintained his Rally Turkey lead on Saturday, ahead of team-mate Sebastien Ogier, while World Rally championship leader Ott Tanak retired with an electrical issue. Ogier had managed to close the gap to his Citroen team-mate down to 2.2s after the second stage on Saturday morning, but Lappi won Kizlan – a new stage

Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Tommi Makinen says an ECU or fuel-related failure are the most likely reasons for Ott Tanak’s retirement from day two of Rally Turkey on Saturday. The Estonian failed to start the second stage of the day after his Yaris WRC refused to fire-up ahead of the Datca test. As usual,

Citroen’s Esapekka Lappi has extended his Rally Turkey lead to 17.7 seconds after a tough afternoon, increasing his advantage over reigning World Rally Championship winner Sebastien Ogier. Lappi excelled during the rain-affected second running of the 23.6-mile Cetibeli stage in his C3 on Friday afternoon, despite being on the hard tyre which was ill-suited to

Dakar Rally icon Marc Coma will serve as Fernando Alonso’s co-driver at Toyota Gazoo Racing when the two-time Formula 1 champion takes on the legendary event. Coma, 42, won the Dakar title on two wheels five times for KTM between 2006 and 2015 in a career that spanned the event’s African and South American eras,

Citroen World Rally Championship driver Esapekka Lappi has taken the lead of Rally Turkey by nine seconds after Friday morning’s loop. Lappi set the fastest time in the Cetibeli stage – 5.6 seconds quicker than second-placed Andreas Mikkelsen – and fifth fastest in the final stage of the morning was enough to hold off the

World Rally Championship title hopeful Thierry Neuville shared the joint-fastest time on the opening stage of Rally Turkey with team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen as Hyundai set the pace. Mikkelsen and Neuville – who is 33 points behind Ott Tanak in the drivers’ standings – both completed the stage in 2m2.6s, going 1.6 seconds faster than M-Sport

Defending World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier has admitted he needs a big score at this week’s Rally Turkey to keep his hopes of a seventh straight title alive. The six-time WRC champion is 40 points behind series leader Ott Tanak with four rallies remaining, going into an event he’s described as a lottery. “I need

World Rally Championship leader Ott Tanak looks near certain to remain at Toyota next season after negotiations with Hyundai have broken down. Hyundai Motorsport’s Andrea Adamo has confirmed his talks with the Estonian are finished, meaning the Estonian’s only remaining option is a return to M-Sport. Asked about his discussions with Hyundai, Tanak said: “We

The Toyota World Rally Championship team says it has eliminated the weakness on rough surfaces that slowed it on last year’s Rally Turkey ahead of the 2019 event this week. Toyota still won in Turkey after its rivals hit trouble, but victor Ott Tanak was quick to admit that it had not been quick enough.

Hyundai Motorsport director Andrea Adamo says the biggest pressure he comes under in the race for this year’s World Rally Championship is from himself. The Italian has kept Hyundai at the top of the WRC manufacturers’ title race for much of the 2019 season since being installed as team director for the 2019 season. But

Former World Rally Championship star and current Dakar Rally driver Mikko Hirvonen will enter the penultimate round of this year’s European Rally Championship, the Cyprus Rally. Hirvonen who finished as runner-up to Sebastien Loeb in the WRC standings four times in his career, will drive a Ford Fiesta R5 run by fellow former Ford factory

Hayden Paddon says he could not let the disappointment of his Rally Finland testing crash be the end of his World Rally Championship arrangement with M-Sport. The one-time WRC rally winner will drive an M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 MkII on Rally GB next month before making an outing in a Fiesta World Rally Car on

Hyundai has added two test events to its October schedule, creating a run of four rallies in four weekends, as the debate over World Rally Championship testing continues. The manufacturer has filled the two weekends between Rally GB and Rally Spain with Rallylegend for Thierry Neuville, and the Spanish Gravel Championship qualifier Rally Ciudad de

The M-Sport Ford World Rally Championship team will field a third Fiesta WRC for Pontus Tidemand on Rally GB. Tidemand, 28, is already returning to M-Sport for next week’s Rally Turkey, having tackled the first two rallies of the season in one of its factory Fords. The WRC 2 and Asia Pacific Rally champion has