Toyota’s Ott Tanak closed in on Rally Argentina leader Thierry Neuville with a pair of World Rally Championship stage wins, while Sebastien Ogier and Kris Meeke both went backwards with issues. Hyundai team-leader Neuville initially increased his lead to 13.8s but was subsequently reeled in by Tanak on the two middle stages of the loop.

All three Toyota World Rally Championship drivers were fortunate to make it to the end of Friday’s opening day of action at Rally Argentina. Ott Tanak and Kris Meeke both led the event, but both suffered potentially rally-ending transmission problems with their Yaris WRCs on the day’s final stage. Their team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala picked up

Esapekka Lappi will not be able to resume Rally Argentina due to damage to his Citroen’s rollcage, continuing his miserable World Rally Championship run. Lappi crashed out on Friday’s final stage, having struggled for pace up to that point and run no higher than sixth. After a distant seventh last time out in Corsica and

World Rally Championship points leader Thierry Neuville moved into the lead of Rally Argentina as Ott Tanak spun from first to third on Friday’s final stage. Toyota initially looked strong on the Friday afternoon loop, with Kris Meeke leading and Tanak retaking second place from Neuville’s Hyundai on Las Bajadas – Villa del Dique. Meeke’s

Toyota’s Kris Meeke moved into the lead of Rally Argentina with an early stage win, although World Rally Championship points’ leader Thierry Neuville is beginning to close in for Hyundai. Meeke’s Yaris team-mate Ott Tanak had been overnight leader after his win on the Villa Carlos Paz superspecial yesterday evening, initially retaining that lead by

World Rally Championship teams have been working flat-out to make their cars as waterproof as possible ahead of Rally Argentina due to the severe weather. The fifth round of the series features a high number of watersplashes and river crossings and recent torrential rain has raised water levels to potentially dangerous levels for the teams.

World Rally Championship driver Ott Tanak took an early lead on Rally Argentina, winning the opening Villa Carlos Paz superspecial by 1.6 seconds from Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier. Toyota’s main title contender Tanak followed up his fastest time in the shakedown with the best time on the short 1.18-mile blast around the host city’s streets, which

World Rally Championship form driver Ott Tanak set the benchmark time during Thursday’s Rally Argentina shakedown stage. The Estonian’s time of 2min34.9sec was set on his first run of the 2.64-mile stage, and was not bettered by either the Toyota Yaris driver nor any of his rivals. Following behind was points leader Thierry Neuville in

As the World Rally Championship heads into back-to-back flyaway gravel events in Argentina and Chile, we went behind the scenes with M-Sport on its testing programme. Despite the loss of world champion Sebastien Ogier, the team has had a very promising start to 2019 – with Teemu Suninen fighting for victory in Sweden and Elfyn

New Zealand has been tipped for a one-off return to the World Rally Championship next season, taking Australia’s slot on the 2020 calendar. Rally Australia’s current agreement with host town Coffs Harbour is up at the end of this season and there is no real desire from WRC stakeholders to return to the New South

M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans is aiming for “efficiency” as he looks to further his best start to a World Rally Championship campaign in Argentina this week. Evans is fourth in the WRC standings, having scored three top-five finishes already this year, including podiums on the last two rallies. He led the Tour of Corsica into the

Toyota driver Ott Tanak says he is “taking more care” and avoiding “unnecessary risk” in a bid to turn around his fortunes and win a first World Rally Championship title this year. Tanak’s title bid fell apart last year despite winning the most stages and four consecutive rallies in the second half of the season,

Safari Rally organisers have been tasked with toughening up the route for the event’s proposed return to the World Rally Championship following a visit by WRC safety delegate Michele Mouton. Mouton visited Kenya to drive as much of a proposed route as possible ahead of a July candidate event which could be the final sign-off

Reigning World Rally Championship manufacturers’ champion Toyota plans to build an R5-specification car that could compete in the WRC2 class, says team boss Tommi Makinen. Toyota is the only one of the WRC’s current four factory teams not to have a car available for the R5 class, which started in 2014. The delay has been

The Dakar Rally has confirmed that the 2020 edition will take place in Saudi Arabia, as previously reported by Autosport. Event organiser ASO confirmed the move on Monday and officially marking the end of the rally’s South American era, which began in 2009 after a move away from Africa. The agreement with the Saudi authorities

A World Rally Championship round based on the French mainland could be the ‘biggest rally on earth’ according to WRC Promoter’s Oliver Ciesla. Calendar negotiations for next season began with a pivotal meeting last month, where FIA president Jean Todt and WRC Promoter managing director Oliver Ciesla discussed the 14 rallies which will make up

One-time World Rally champion Petter Solberg has announced his retirement from top-flight motorsport. Solberg will remain active in motorsport and will continue to compete on selected events – including a fan-friendly farewell tour for 2019 – but says he will not chase a fourth world championship. Solberg, who has been competing at the highest level

FIA officials are visiting both Japan and Kenya this week as part of preparations for both nations to potentially return to the World Rally Championship for 2020. Their return is likely to come at the cost of European events as the FIA and the WRC battle calendar congestion. Corsica replaced Japan when the Asian country

New Zealand rally star Hayden Paddon has ordered a Hyundai i30 TCR to help him refine his asphalt driving technique in 2019 Paddon, who lost his factory World Rally Championship seat to Sebastien Loeb this year, is working every possible angle to find a way back into the series. His team is now based out

Fernando Alonso has hinted at contesting an off-road event to achieve “something that has no precedent” and insisted he is not just having “fun” in his post-Formula 1 challenges. Last year the two-time F1 world champion won the Le Mans 24 Hours alongside his farewell F1 season, and has added Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring

The Dakar rally is set to leave South America to start a new era in the Middle East after signing a five-year deal with Saudi Arabia, Autosport understands. Dakar organiser Amaury Sport Organisation has run the cross country event in South America since 2009, following terrorist threats to the route in Mauritania forced the cancellation

The route for Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship is being threatened by tree disease which, according to the government, is at the “height of its contamination”. The disease, known as Phytophthora ramorum, affects Larch trees across Britain and has been a continual issue for the last 10 years ago, but has never been

Five-time World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier says his Tour of Corsica was like a “real life” testing session after pre-rally favourite Citroen struggled for pace throughout. Ogier, a two-time winner on the island, failed to score a single fastest time in a C3 WRC which suffered from a lack of grip during the season’s first

The FIA has explained why disabled competitor Fabrice Giorgi was not allowed to take the start of last weekend’s Tour of Corsica round of the World Rally Championship. Giorgi’s modified Skoda Fabia R5 (similar to the one pictured above) did not comply with the governing body’s technical regulations and was only seen by the FIA

World Rally Championship drivers Elfyn Evans and Kris Meeke have urged the FIA to speed up the delivery of technology warning slower cars that a rival is trying to pass. Slowed by his own suspension problems, Meeke unwittingly held up Evans – who was fighting for the Tour of Corsica lead – on Friday’s final

Toyota World Rally Championship team principal Tommi Makinen was hoping that Elfyn Evans would win the Tour of Corsica before his late puncture, because Evans and M-Sport “deserved it”. Evans fought with Makinen’s Toyota driver Ott Tanak for the majority of the event before Tanak suffered a puncture on Saturday afternoon. The M-Sport driver then

Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Thierry Neuville took a dramatic Tour of Corsica win as Elfyn Evans’ M-Sport Ford Fiesta suffered a puncture on the final stage. Evans had led Neuville by 11.5 seconds heading into the powerstage after a stunning time earlier in the morning allowed him to reclaim the lead he lost on

M-Sport World Rally Championship driver Elfyn Evans has snatched the lead of the Tour of Corsica from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville on the penultimate stage. Neuville overhauled Evans on the final of Saturday’s action to establish an overnight lead of 4.5 seconds, taking 16s out of his rival in that test alone. However Evans – boosted

The M-Sport World Rally Championship team ‘won’t sleep’ in order to optimise Elfyn Evans’s Ford Fiesta in his victory battle with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville on the Tour of Corsica. Evans – who has one top flight WRC win on Rally GB in 2017 – sits 4.5 seconds behind Neuville, having dropped 16s to the Belgian

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville holds a shock Tour of Corsica lead of 4.5 seconds over M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans overnight, as Toyota’s World Rally Championship leader Ott Tanak hit trouble. Tanak had led the rally heading into the afternoon in his Yaris WRC ahead of Evans, with Neuville’s i20 Coupe WRC 17.2s behind. Fiesta WRC driver Evans