World Rally Championship points leader Ott Tanak has stolen the lead of the Tour of Corsica as his battle with rival Elfyn Evans intensifies. Tanak admitted on Friday that he “wasn’t quite at the limit yet,” but there was “no holding back” from the championship leader on Saturday morning. He took 0.6 seconds out of

Tour of Corsica stewards have returned Elfyn Evans to the lead of the rally after he lost time catching Kris Meeke on the final Friday stage. Evans took the lead of France’s World Rally Championship round on the first stage of the afternoon and looked set to remain out front overnight. But the M-Sport Ford

Ott Tanak returned to the Tour of Corsica lead temporarily, but Elfyn Evans will be given first place back having become stuck behind World Rally Championship rival Kris Meeke. Although Evans dropped from first to third when caught behind Meeke’s slow-moving car on Friday’s final stage, Autosport understands that stewards will award Evans the same

World Rally Championship points leader Ott Tanak established an early lead on the Tour of Corsica, but is only 1.3 seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans. Tanak wasn’t particularly happy with his driving on the opening stage but responded by taking the lead on stage two courtesy of a second fastest time through the test. He

Toyota World Rally Championship driver Kris Meeke says his fastest time on the Tour of Corsica’s shakedown has confirmed his confidence in the Toyota Yaris. The Bastia-based event is Meeke’s maiden asphalt outing in the Yaris WRC. His shakedown time was 0.9s faster than anybody else on the 3.40-mile Sorbo Ocagnano stage. “I came away

Former Citroen drivers Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo have tipped the team and Sebastien Ogier as pacesetters for their home World Rally Championship round in Corsica this week. Meeke came close to winning the event in 2017 for Citroen, retiring from the lead with an oil connector problem. Ogier arrives in Corsica having triumphed in

Fernando Alonso says the Dakar Rally-winning Toyota Hilux he’s sampling in South Africa this week “feels incredible” after his maiden run in the car. The Spaniard, who races for Toyota in the World Endurance Championship, drove the Hilux in the Kalahari desert, 900km away from Johannesburg, South Africa. Alonso drove alongside 2009 Dakar winner Giniel

Rally GB will move its base from Deeside to Llandudno in an effort to further boost the profile of Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship. Autosport first learned of plans for the move last October, when a city centre stage in Liverpool was also discussed. Hopes of competitive action in Liverpool have faded, but

Double Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso is testing Toyota’s Dakar Rally Hilux in South Africa this week. Alonso has joined Gazoo Racing South Africa for a two-day session in a desert around 600 miles from Johannesburg, near the town of Bokhara, in a ‘controlled environment’ of small dunes and hard gravel. Autosport revealed in

M-Sport driver Teemu Suninen has been told to finish this week’s Tour of Corsica after three crashes in the first three rounds of the 2019 World Rally Championship. Suninen went off the road on the first stage of the season in Monte Carlo, the first stage proper last time out in Mexico and spent time

Hyundai has announced nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb will contest Rally Chile in May, while the dropped Andreas Mikkelsen returns to take on both Argentina and Chile. Loeb had been confirmed for Rally Monte Carlo and Rally Sweden, before Hyundai dropped Andreas Mikkelsen to run Loeb and Dani Sordo alongside Thierry Neuville in the

Ken Block has tipped Oliver Solberg as “one of the next big names in rallying” after the 17-year-old took second on his maiden appearance for Subaru Motorsports USA. The son of 2003 World Rally champion Petter contested his first gravel event in a four-wheel-drive car when he tackled the 100 Acre Wood Rally in a

Sebastien Ogier is pushing to make fundamental suspension changes to Citroen’s World Rally Championship car following his Rally Mexico victory earlier this month. Ogier has won two of the first three rounds of 2019 and pressed the team to run Reiger dampers – the same manufacturer he used at M-Sport last season – on the

Ex-Citroen and Ford World Rally Championship driver Mikko Hirvonen says he has “never had so much fun in a rally car” after contesting the West Cork Rally in Ireland. Hirvonen won the national section – for non-homologated cars – of last weekend’s rally, which was won outright by another ex-works Citroen driver, Craig Breen, who

Oliver Solberg – son of 2003 World Rally champion Petter – had a successful debut with Subaru Motorsports USA taking second in the 100 Acre Wood Rally. The 17-year-old was competing Stateside for the first time, contesting his first gravel rally in a four-wheel-drive car in a Subaru WRX STI. He is set to do

Hyundai is planning a major mid-season update to its i20 Coupe in a bid to keep up with its World Rally Championship rivals, with Toyota and Citroen starting strong. While Thierry Neuville took the title fight to the final round last season, there’s a fear the Hyundai is slipping back in terms of pace against

The FIA has promised to take action about artificial jumps on World Rally Championship stages following the controversy on Rally Mexico last week. The opening Guanajuato spectator stage was cancelled after a metal jump was damaged and started to throw the cars into the air at unexpected angles. The FIA’s 2019 ‘WRC Safety Action List’

Hayden Paddon has confirmed a programme of 2019 events designed at keeping him in line for a World Rally Championship return as soon as possible. Paddon missed out on a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC seat this season after Sebastien Loeb signed to drive for the manufacturer. The Kiwi driver was offered a programme with Hyundai

Citroen team principal Pierre Budar has clarified his firm’s position on its World Rally Championship future following comments attributed to the firm’s CEO Linda Jackson. Jackson was quoted as saying Citroen would walk away from the WRC at the end of next year if electric or hybrid technology was not incorporated into the regulations for

The Toyota World Rally Championship team will start testing a new alternator this week in an effort to solve the problem that halted Jari-Matti Latvala on Rally Mexico. Latvala’s Yaris WRC lost electrical charge ahead of the evening superspecial last Friday, forcing him out of fourth place. The problem was centred on a connection on

The boss of Mexico’s World Rally Championship round has promised to take the event “back to basics” for 2020 after this year’s troubled event. The Leon-based rally, now in its 15th year in the championship, had become a standard-bearer in terms of layout and spectator education. But this year it was heavily criticised, starting with

Toyota World Rally Championship driver Kris Meeke has issued a public apology to Citroen for allegations that it had influenced a stage stoppage on Rally Mexico. Meeke briefly took the lead of the event on Saturday when Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier slowed with a puncture. But Ogier’s time loss was minimised because the stage was red

Sebastien Ogier secured Rally Mexico victory with fastest time on the Las Minas powerstage, though second placed Ott Tanak remains the World Rally Championship leader. It was Ogier and Citroen’s second win of the season after a tense finale against Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai on the Monte Carlo Rally, though the reigning WRC champion faced less

Two stages wins on Sunday morning have propelled Toyota’s Ott Tanak to second place on Rally Mexico, with Sebastien Ogier now only one stage away from victory for Citroen. Elfyn Evans had started the morning’s rally-closing loop in second place, only 2.2 seconds up on the chasing Tanak after struggling to keep pace with rally

Sebastien Ogier increased his Rally Mexico lead further on Saturday afternoon, with second-placed Elfyn Evans coming under intense pressure from a charging Ott Tanak behind. Citroen’s sole remaining driver Ogier pulled further ahead of M-Sport’s Evans through the loop of three gravel stages and three superspecials, pushing his lead advantage up to 27 seconds going

Citroen World Rally team principal Pierre Budar has denied allegations his squad manipulated red flag rules to force a stage cancellation to protect Sebastien Ogier’s Rally Mexico victory bid. Rally leader Ogier suffered a puncture on the Saturday morning running of the Guanajuatito stage and dropped one minute. His team-mate Esapekka Lappi went off the

Sebastien Ogier survived a chaotic morning to emerge in the lead of Rally Mexico, the Citroen man retaking first place after briefly falling behind Kris Meeke. World Rally champion Ogier’s team-mate Esapekka Lappi triggered a red flag on the morning’s opening Guanajuatito stage when he ran wide and went backwards off the road, his Citroen

Hyundai’s World Rally Championship team principal Andrea Adamo says Dani Sordo’s retirement from the fight for the lead of Rally Mexico is unacceptable. The Spaniard, making his first WRC start with the Korean manufacturer this season, was 4.6 seconds behind leader Sebastien Ogier when he retired with an electrical fault on the way to the

Sebastien Ogier leads Rally Mexico after a disastrous Friday for Hyundai left Thierry Neuville the lowest placed World Rally Car and its other two cars sidelined from the lead fight. Reigning world champion Ogier was a class apart compared to title rivals Neuville and Ott Tanak on Friday, winning three of the full-length gravel stages

World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier has inherited first place on Rally Mexico after Friday morning leader Andreas Mikkelsen was forced to retire on the El Chocolate stage. Mikkelsen had briefly stopped his Hyundai i20 around 8.5 miles into the first stage of Friday’s afternoon loop, losing around a minute and a half. Though he continued