Get unlimited access for free You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa must capitalise on the opportunity to claim a milestone first Dakar win for the Japanese marque in 2019, says team manager Glyn Hall. Toyota Hilux cars finished best of the rest behind the dominant Peugeots

Get unlimited access for free You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Carlos Sainz Sr says the Mini X-raid team’s lack of Dakar Rally experience with its current buggy leaves him with reliability concerns ahead of the 2019 event. Sainz won last year’s edition of the rally with Peugeot, but the manufacturer’s

Get unlimited access for free You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb says he will approach his first Dakar Rally as a privateer with humility when the marathon event starts in Peru on Sunday. Peugeot’s withdrawal from cross-country rallying left Loeb with little hope of returning

Hyundai Motorsport has replaced its World Rally Championship team principal Michel Nandan with its customer racing manager Andrea Adamo for the 2019 season. Nandan had spearheaded Hyundai’s WRC efforts since January 2013, and during that year was responsible for the development of the team’s Alzenau factory base and its i20 for its top-level rallying return.

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Defending World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier has urged Citroen to find consistency as he begins the pursuit of a seventh title in Monte Carlo later this month. Citroen took just one win in 2018, through Sebastien Loeb, and has continued to update

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Sebastien Loeb says he “happily” signed up to support Hyundai and Thierry Neuville in their bid for World Rally Championship glory next season. Since Loeb’s move to the Korean manufacturer was confirmed earlier this month, there have been questions about how the

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Hyundai says Andreas Mikkelsen did not match the team’s or his own expectations during a tough 2018 World Rally Championship season. After a poor first full campaign with Hyundai, Mikkelsen was widely expected to have his programme of rallies reduced for 2019.

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. M-Sport has committed to the 2019 World Rally Championship and will run three Ford Fiesta WRCs for at least the first two rounds of the season. Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen will stay on at the team for the full 14-round calendar,

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota’s Japanese protege Takamoto Katsuta will contest the majority of the 2019 World Rally Championship season and make his competitive debut in a Yaris WRC next year. The 25-year-old’s career is supported by Toyota Gazoo’s Racing Rally Challenge Programme as part of

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Hyundai says there is no alternative that will allow Sebastien Loeb to test the team’s World Rally Car sooner than the weekend before the 2019 Monte Carlo Rally season opener. Loeb will test Hyundai’s i20 Coupe WRC for the first time just

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. M-Sport will seek an extension to the FIA’s Friday deadline for entry to the 2019 World Rally Championship as it battles to save its future in the series. WRC manufacturers have to confirm their entries with the governing body by Friday afternoon

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota’s Monte Carlo Rally preparations were halted briefly when Jari-Matti Latvala crashed the team’s test Yaris World Rally Car on Thursday. The Finn hit an Armco barrier and damaged the car sufficiently to halt the test for the remainder of the day

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Hyundai’s decision to sign Sebastien Loeb has left Hayden Paddon “high and dry” for the 2019 season, forcing the Kiwi out of the World Rally Championship. The 2016 Rally Argentina winner had set his sights on remaining with Hyundai, but Loeb’s arrival

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Hyundai has announced Sebastien Loeb will contest six rounds of the 2019 World Rally Championship, sharing an i20 Coupe WRC with Dani Sordo. Autosport had revealed on Wednesday that Loeb had agreed to join Hyundai, and his two-year deal with the starts

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Indycar and NASCAR Cup race winner Robby Gordon will return to the Dakar Rally after a two-year hiatus in 2019. Gordon, a Dakar regular since 2005, took stage wins during six of his 11 outings in the event and finished as high

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Sebastien Loeb has signed to drive for Hyundai in the 2019 World Rally Championship. Autosport understands the agreement, Loeb’s first professional contract outside of the PSA Group, will be announced on Thursday. Loeb is currently out of contact and is testing the

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. After two World Rally Championship titles with Sebastien Ogier, M-Sport Ford is going into 2019 facing uncertain prospects following its champion’s exit for Citroen. DAVID EVANS has the latest on M-Sport’s efforts to ensure it is still in the WRC field –

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Kalle Rovanpera feels he could be ready for a full-time World Rally Championship seat by 2020, and Skoda would release him from his contract if he secures one. There is strong speculation that Rovanpera’s manager Timo Jouhki already has the 18-year-old’s future

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Hyundai will begin the 2019 World Rally Championship season with an unchanged line-up, despite speculation that Sebastien Loeb has signed for the squad. Thierry Neuville, Andreas Mikkelsen and Dani Sordo will drive a trio of i20 Coupe WRCs at round one in

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. The FIA has provided more detail of the new structure for the World Rally Championship’s support series. The WRC 2 Pro Championship, aimed at the increasing number of R5 manufacturers, will allow drivers to take scores from eight rounds. The conventional WRC

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Citroen team principal Pierre Budar has explained the reasons for the loss of Abu Dhabi funding that will limit the team to a two-car 2019 World Rally Championship line-up. Abu Dhabi has been one of the primary backers of Citroen’s WRC effort

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. M-Sport’s Polish branch has revealed an all-new Ford Fiesta R2 car, which will form the basis of next year’s Junior World Rally Championship. The new car, the first to be designed and built out of M-Sport’s Krakow facility and the first to

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota has announced its 2019 World Rally Championship signing Kris Meeke will be co-driven by Seb Marshall. Autosport reported in October that Meeke, who was axed by Citroen after May’s Rally Portugal, and co-driver Paul Nagle had split amicably ahead of Meeke’s

Sebastien Loeb will be left out in the cold next season after Citroen failed to secure funding to run a third C3 WRC in next year’s World Rally Championship. Citroen team principal Pierre Budar met with officials from the team’s Abu Dhabi backers at last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but the two parties failed

Sebastien Ogier says he can see potential with the Citroen C3 WRC after his first two days testing the car he will drive in next year’s World Rally Championship. The Frenchman, who has departed M-Sport after back-to-back drivers’ titles, drove the Citroen on a gravel development test in the Algarve area of southern Portugal. Thursday

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Rally GB clerk of the course Iain Campbell says virtual chicanes can provide a safe, sensible and cost-effective solution to slowing World Rally Cars down in dangerous places. Campbell was one of many high-ranking officials to contact Autosport backing the use of

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Thierry Neuville has warned his Hyundai World Rally Championship team that it has “no chance” of beating Ott Tanak and Toyota in 2019 without a step up in car development. As the runner-up in the 2018 drivers’ standings, Neuville has not restricted

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. The factory Skoda World Rally Championship WRC2 squad will scale down to a line-up of defending champion Jan Kopecky and rising star Kalle Rovanpera, with Pontus Tidemand exiting the team. Kopecky and Rovanpera will drive the Skoda Fabia R5 cars, with Skoda

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier wants WRC rules changed to prevent ‘guest’ drivers – such as Citroen favourite Sebastien Loeb – getting advantageous positions. With day one WRC running orders set by championship positions, points leaders end up getting the worst of

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Rally fans are being offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join M-Sport’s end of season farewell party for World Rally champions Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. The pair will leave M-Sport Ford at the end of this year, bound for Citroen in 2019.