Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Hayden Paddon is eager to confirm an extension to his current Hyundai World Rally Championship deal into 2019 as soon as possible. The Kiwi told Autosport he is mystified by media reports that he could switch his focus from the WRC to

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. There is growing disquiet among World Rally Championship teams about Rally Australia remaining “in the middle of nowhere” in Coffs Harbour. The manufacturers felt the New South Wales venue was too small to host last week’s three-way title decider, prompting renewed calls

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Sebastien Ogier will begin testing his Citroen C3 WRC for the 2019 World Rally Championship in Portugal next week. The 2018 world champion confirmed he will drive the C3 for four days before the end of the year, with the first two

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. The FIA has come under pressure to introduce ‘virtual chicanes’ in the World Rally Championship following the Rally Australia tractor incident. Last Friday Hyundai driver Andreas Mikkelsen was forced to overtake a tractor travelling down the Sherwood stage, and crashed shortly afterwards.

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier has admitted there have been times he has questioned why he is leaving M-Sport Ford for Citroen in 2019 given his ’17/18 success. Ogier clinched a sixth WRC title in a row in Australia on Sunday, in

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala had resigned himself to 2018 being his first win-less World Rally Championship season as a factory driver, before his unexpected last-minute Rally Australia success. Latvala was expected to play the Toyota team game on the final day of the

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Sebastien Ogier praised his M-Sport Ford World Rally Team after sealing a second World Rally Championship title in a row with the squad before he moves to Citroen next year. He and co-driver Julien Ingrassia – who has been alongside Ogier for

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala won Rally Australia, while crashes for Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak helped seal a sixth World Rally Championship title for M-Sport Ford’s Sebastien Ogier. Toyota driver Latvala went into the final loop of the season knowing that he’d

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. M-Sport Ford driver Sebastien Ogier has won a sixth the World Rally Championship title, following Toyota driver Ott Tanak’s retirement from the Rally Australia season finale. Tanak pulled over with an apparent gearbox problem on the penultimate stage, but an impact warning

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville is officially out of the running for the World Rally Championship drivers’ title, after crashing out of the first stage of the final loop. The Belgian driver – in pursuit of his first WRC title having led the

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Jari-Matti Latvala leads Rally Australia after his Toyota team-mate Ott Tanak went off the road on Sunday morning, while Sebastien Ogier remains favourite for the World Rally Championship title. Latvala set a stunning pace on the first stage of the morning, SS19

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota has told Jari-Matti Latvala to play rear-gunner for Ott Tanak on the final day of Rally Australia to reduce pressure on the leader and World Rally Championship title contender. He and Tanak were instructed not to concentrate on each other’s times

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Rain on Rally Australia’s Coffs Harbour superspecial stage has helped Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Hayden Paddon close in on Jari-Matti Latvala for second behind leader Ott Tanak. Leading Toyota contenders Tanak and Latvala went into the pair of runs through the

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Ott Tanak leads Rally Australia following Saturday afternoon’s loop, while Sebastien Ogier will go into the final day of the World Rally Championship season in control of the title fight. Toyota did not need to enforce any team orders between morning leader

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala claimed the lead of Rally Australia on the Saturday morning loop, while his team-mate Ott Tanak boosted Toyota’s World Rally Championship manufacturer title chances by taking second. Latvala and Tanak – who topped three stages in the four-stage loop

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Citroen’s Mads Ostberg extended his Rally Australia lead to 6.8 seconds at the end of Friday’s running as Sebastien Ogier boosted his hopes of a sixth World Rally Championship title. Ostberg held a 6.2s cushion going into the final two superspecials run

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. World Rally Championship driver Andreas Mikkelsen says he is “angry” and “disappointed” after an incident in the middle of a live stage with a tractor “destroyed” his Rally Australia. The Hyundai driver came across a tractor during his first pass on the

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Mads Ostberg continues to lead the World Rally Championship’s Rally Australia after Friday’s afternoon loop, while a puncture has damaged Thierry Neuville’s title hopes. Citroen driver Ostberg continued to benefit from running last in the order, emerging from the repeat of this

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. The Hyundai World Rally Championship team has brought forward its 2019-spec engine for this weekend’s Rally Australia in a bid to help Thierry Neuville’s title chase. Neuville’s i20 Coupe WRC will feature a new cylinder head originally scheduled for delivery at the

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. M-Sport’s Sebastien Ogier says he can be a “little more relaxed” in this weekend’s World Rally Championship title decider in Australia because a sixth title “won’t change my life so much”. Ogier heads into the the final rally of 2018 with a

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb has tutored Petter Solberg’s son, Oliver, in a two-day asphalt test in France. Petter Solberg, who competed against Loeb throughout his WRC and World Rallycross career, asked his rival if he would offer his 17-year-old son

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. M-Sport is willing to sacrifice the chance to lift back-to-back World Rally Championship manufacturers’ championship titles in favour of aiding Sebastien Ogier’s chase of a sixth drivers’ crown. Ogier leads the WRC heading into this weekend’s Rally Australia by three points over

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota World Rally Championship team boss Tommi Makinen is putting together a “massive programme” of development for rising Japanese star Takamoto Katsuta. The 25-year-old has been selected ahead of Hiroki Arai, son of Japan’s most famous rally driver Toshi Arai, and will

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Plans to have a World Rally Championship stage on the streets of Liverpool moved a step closer last month when a council official visited Rally Spain. Britain’s round of the WRC will remain in Wales next year, marking the 20th consecutive year

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Thierry Neuville insists he still has the edge in the 2018 World Rally Championship fight, despite Sebastien Ogier deposing him from the series lead heading into the decider. Hyundai driver Neuville relinquished his grip on the WRC’s top spot – a position

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Volkswagen has hinted it could field a factory Polo GTI R5 on more WRC2 events or European Rally Championship rounds in 2019. VW was initially adamant it would only enter “one or two rallies in key markets” with its own works team

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. M-Sport will attempt to convince Sebastien Loeb to be part of its 2019 World Rally Championship team. Nine-time WRC champion Loeb’s future remains unclear after Peugeot’s decision to close his main programme in World Rallycross, although he has secured a deal to

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb will contest the 2019 Dakar Rally in a Red Bull-backed private Peugeot. Loeb was part of Peugeot’s factory assault on the Dakar for the past three years, and led on every occasion. But crashes and mechanical

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Citroen has reopened the door to running a third car in the 2019 World Rally Championship, meaning Sebastien Loeb or Craig Breen could remain in its line-up. When Citroen announced Sebastien Ogier and Esapekka Lappi as its WRC line-up, it suggested there

Get unlimited access You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota’s 2019 signing Kris Meeke says returning to the World Rally Championship service park in Spain last weekend made him realise he had not been enjoying the WRC in recent years. Meeke had avoided the championship since being dropped by Citroen following