Estonia has begun a groundbreaking three-year plan to join the World Rally Championship calendar. Rally Estonia, which runs out of Tartu next week, has traditionally been a warm-up for WRC crews competing on Rally Finland, which takes place across the Baltic Sea a few weeks later. Estonia attracts the best entry of any rally in

Hayden Paddon has secured a World Rally Championship return with a last-minute deal to drive M-Sport Ford’s third Fiesta WRC on Rally Finland. Overlooked for a Hyundai return in favour of Craig Breen for the event, Paddon decided not to “cry about the decision” in order to find an alternative. His agreement to return to

Hyundai has joined the race to sign Ott Tanak for the 2020 World Rally Championship, with team boss Andrea Adamo declaring he has no qualms about chasing a ‘superteam’ line-up. Adamo’s opposite number at Toyota, Tommi Makinen, has always talked of the need for each of the four WRC manufacturers to have a top-line driver

An FIA World Motor Sport Council vote on the 2020 World Rally Championship calendar is expected later this week and could lead to the Safari Rally being officially added. The result of the vote is likely to come on Friday but it could be pushed back until early next week. Sources close to the governing

Markko Martin is the latest addition to an increasingly impressive Rally Estonia entry list, with the five-time World Rally event winner making his competitive debut in a Ford Fiesta WRC. Martin was one of the original architects of Rally Estonia – as well as the inaugural winner in 2002 – and said it was an

Toyota protege Takamoto Katsuta will make his top class World Rally Championship debut in a Yaris WRC at Rally Germany. The Japanese driver will also contest Rally Spain in the Toyota in October, and a run on Rally Japan – the November event that will be the nation’s dress rehearsal for its full WRC round

Kalle Rovanpera will step up to a Toyota works seat next season, making him the youngest ever full-time factory driver in the World Rally Championship, Autosport has learned. The 18-year-old’s management will invoke a clause in his two-year Skoda deal to depart his current employer at the end of the year. Autosport’s sources have indicated

All four factory World Rally Championship teams will contest next month’s Rally Estonia, with Toyota’s Ott Tanak having been added to the entry. Tanak’s entry on his home country’s biggest motorsport event could only be confirmed once Juho Hanninen had safely completed Rally Italy because WRC points leader Tanak will use the Yaris Hanninen drove

Hyundai has resolved its dilemma over who to put in its World Rally Cars in Finland – its traditional weak point – by bringing Craig Breen back to the WRC. DAVID EVANS explains the factors that made Hyundai turn to the former Citroen driver. It’s not often flood defences are needed in Jyvaskyla, but it

Craig Breen will return to the World Rally Championship to join Hyundai as its third driver for Rally Finland in August. The decision ends weeks of speculation about who would step in for the team’s resident drivers Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo, both of whom had made it clear they did not want to compete

MSV chief executive Jonathan Palmer has explained how the World Rally Championship will use the Oulton Park circuit for Rally GB’s first return to a race circuit in 20 years. Oulton is the opening stage on the October 3-6 event and comes after the crews leave a ceremonial start outside the Cunard Building on Liverpool’s

Rally Italy winner Dani Sordo says he remains in the dark about when he will next contest a World Rally Championship round with Hyundai. Sordo took a sensational second career victory in Sardinia last weekend when Ott Tanak’s Toyota had a steering problem on the final stage while leading. Hyundai is rotating its line-up in

Defending World Touring Car Cup champion Gabriele Tarquini tested a Hyundai i20 Coupe World Rally Car on gravel for the first time in Sardinia on Monday. Tarquini drove the car on a stage close to the Alghero base for last week’s Rally Italy, with Hyundai Motorsport director Andrea Adamo as his co-driver. Before he drove,

Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda has apologised to Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja after their Yaris WRC failed on the final stage of Rally Italy. Toyoda was present at Rally Italy and said he was touched by the emotion shown when the distraught Estonians returned to service after final-stage steering problems dropped them from

Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Sebastien Loeb took a rally car back to his home region of Alsace and won for the first time since 2012 last weekend. The nine-time world champion was competing in the Vosges Rally – the event which used to form the basis for France’s mainland round of the World Rally

The Toyota World Rally Championship team has explained that a steering problem cost Ott Tanak Rally Italy victory. Tanak led Sardinian event by nearly half a minute going onto the final stage and looked set to collect a fourth win of the season and third in a row. Instead, he suffered a heartbreaking final-stage failure

Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Dani Sordo sensationally won Rally Italy, as Toyota’s Ott Tanak appeared to lose his power steering on the final stage of the rally. Tanak headed onto the powerstage 26.7 seconds ahead of Sordo, but plummeted down to fifth after spinning his Toyota and losing two minutes as he wrestled with

Toyota driver Ott Tanak is two stages away from a third consecutive World Rally Championship event victory as he leads Rally Italy by 28.7 seconds over Dani Sordo. The battle between Tanak and Hyundai driver Sordo was fierce throughout Saturday, but the contest defused on Sunday morning. Tanak was quicker than his rival through both

Toyota World Rally Championship driver Ott Tanak has pulled clear of Hyundai rival Dani Sordo to lead Rally Italy by 25.9 seconds with four stages remaining on Sunday. Tanak began Saturday 11.2s shy of Sordo, but won all three of the morning’s tests to rocket into a 6.4s lead heading into the afternoon loop. He

Toyota World Rally Championship driver Ott Tanak surged past Hyundai’s Dani Sordo on Saturday morning as the pair’s Rally Italy lead battle intensified. Tanak selected a different tyre strategy to his immediate rivals Sordo and Teemu Suninen, who both chose five hard compound tyres for the loop. Tanak went with three mediums and two hards,

The FIA has confirmed the introduction of a new generation of hybrid powered cars for the 2022 World Rally Championship. In a raft of decisions coming from World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on Friday, the governing body has also raised the potential for the reintroduction of C segment World Rally cars, as well

Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Dani Sordo has inherited the lead of Rally Italy after a number of drivers were given notional times. Sordo began the afternoon loop 0.7 seconds behind Toyota’s Ott Tanak in third, and duly beat his rival by that same 0.7s to draw level with Tanak heading into stage seven. But

Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Dani Sordo is expected to inherit the lead of Rally Italy when nominal times from a stage cancellation are finalised. Sordo began the afternoon loop 0.7 seconds behind Toyota’s Ott Tanak in third, and duly beat his rival by that same 0.7s to draw level with Tanak heading into stage

Citroen will consider pulling Sebastien Ogier out of Saturday’s Rally Italy stages if the French firm feels there is nothing to gain from the C3 WRC running first on the road. Ogier retired from Rally Italy after breaking a steering arm on the final stage of Friday’s morning loop. Returning under Rally 2 regulations would

Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala leads Rally Italy by 2.8 seconds over team-mate Ott Tanak, as World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier retired with broken suspension. Ogier headed into Friday as rally leader courtesy of his stage win on Thursday’s superspecial stage, but fell to ninth as he fought against the conditions as the opening car on

Sebastien Ogier established an early 0.1-second lead on the World Rally Championship’s Rally Italy over Citroen team-mate Esapekka Lappi after the opening superspecial on Thursday night. Ogier raced championship rival Ott Tanak on the Ittiri Arena Show stage, and beat the Toyota driver by a mere 0.3s in what was the final heat. Lappi was

Hyundai Motorsport director Andrea Adamo is happy to talk to Sebastien Ogier about the Frenchman’s allegations of ‘mean tactics’ at the last World Rally Championship round in Portugal. Ogier accused Adamo of instigating tactics which would impact on another competitor – with potential safety implications – on the stages of Rally Portugal. Ogier has no

Citroen team principal Pierre Budar is pushing the FIA to consider a change of regulations around testing in the World Rally Championship. The FIA reduced the number of test days available to each factory team from 55 to 42 at the start of the season. That change, allied to the relaxing of regulations on running

Andreas Mikkelsen is back in Hyundai’s World Rally Championship line-up for Sardinia this weekend, but his programme for the rest of the 2019 season remains uncertain. Hyundai went into the campaign intending to run Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen at every round, with Dani Sordo and Sebastien Loeb alternating in the third car. But it

Toyota has played down speculation that ex-Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso could make his World Rally Championship debut on Rally Spain later this year. Despite social media speculation in the last week, it has been suggested that a fourth Toyota Yaris WRC at Rally Spain will be used by Takamoto Katsuta rather than Alonso. The