It’s early days in Safari Rally Kenya, the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship with just two stages and 12.91km run on Thursday, but it was Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja heading the score sheets in their Hyundai i20 N, 2.4 seconds ahead of Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston in their Toyota GR Yaris.

Katsuta out braked himself in stage two, sliding through a field and threading his Yaris between a pumphouse and an irrigation system, losing a handful of seconds.

“I’m very happy to be back in Kenya. It’s going to be a big challenge, more than in previous years, but I try to do my best. The second stage was already quite challenging after the rain; it was hard to judge which corners were slippery and I went quite wide at one point, but I’m still here. We could have this situation in many stages during the weekend, so it was a good reminder of what can happen. Tomorrow with some proper stages I’m sure we will see a lot of drama, but I feel comfortable with the car and just need to stay calm and be patient”, Katsuta said.

After taking a pounding in the media after his lacklustre Swedish performance, M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka lie in third position, 0.2 seconds behind his Japanese rival.

Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen – double Safari winners – are a further 0.4 seconds adrift with the championship leader Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin lying in fifth despite winning the opening super special stage by 1.5 seconds.

Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy won the rookie battle, ending sixth with Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen trailing behind by one second; first to seventh is covered by 9.8 seconds as can be expected with minimal timed running.

Thierry Neuville suffered a technical issue in stage two after a wild two-wheeled moment and lies in eighth place overall, 19.7 seconds behind Tanak.

There was drama for Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria who failed to get to the start of SS2 after their Hyundai’s engine refused to fire up after the re-group.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz leads WRC2 in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 debut with Oliver Solberg lurking 1.3 seconds behind.

There were comical scenes at the end of the opening stage when drivers either refused to give an end of stage interview or spoke in their native tongue in protest against the FIA’s swearing clampdown and Adrien Fourmaux’ s €10k fine on Rally Sweden.

The action resumes on Friday morning with the first of the day’s six stages. The biggest challenge will be the 31.40km Camp Moran test – the longest of the rally – which opens the morning and afternoon loops.

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Super Sunday on Rally Sweden was just that! After 300km of hard racing, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin won the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship by 3.8 seconds from Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston in another Toyota Gazoo Racing one-two.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe brought their Hyundai i20 N home on the final step of the podium, fending off the attentions of the 2019 World Campion Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja by 4.9 seconds.

The final day featured two runs over the longest stage of the rally and the Wolf Power Stage; the first 29.35km run over Västervik saw Katsuta set the fastest time, beating Evans by a relatively massive 7.5 seconds – and re-taking the overall rally lead with a margin of 4.5 seconds and two stages remaining.

Evans dug deep in the penultimate stage, setting the fastest time, crucially 8.2 seconds faster than his Japanese teammate and with a 3.7 second cushion heading into the 8km Power Stage, it was going down to the wire!

Katsuta set the benchmark time in the Power Stage but Evans was 0.1 seconds faster, clinching 35 points for a perfect weekend score.

Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen brought their GR Yaris home in fifth, ahead of the leading M-Sport Ford Puma of Martins Sesks and Renars Francis, winning the ‘battle of the youngsters’ by beating Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen by 22.2 seconds.

The third youngster, Ireland’s Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy, buried their Puma deep in a snow bank 14.9km into the day’s first stage. They rejoined thanks to a group of spectators who helped dig their car out, but fell way down the order.

Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson made it a hat-trick of WRC2 victories on Rally Sweden after leading throughout the four day event. Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka took second with Mikko Heikkila/Kristian Temonen rounding out the podium.

Read Motorsport Monday tomorrow for a full Rally Sweden report

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Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin maintained their lead on Rally Sweden after another seven blisteringly fast stages but came under intense pressure from his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston.

Kalle Rovanperä took his first Rally Sweden stage win to get the day underway. Katsuta pipped Evans by 0.5 seconds, bringing the overall lead down to just one tenth of a second. Tänak was 1.6 seconds off the lead while Fourmaux was drifting away from the fight.

On stage 10, Evans pipped Rovanperä by 0.4 seconds while Tänak had an issue – he wouldn’t say what the problem was at the stage end interview but he lost time on the next stage as well, losing his podium place to Neuville who won the last stage of the morning loop.

Fourmaux was only tenth quickest on stage 11 and dropped to sixth overall behind a resurgent Rovanperä 9.8 seconds up the road.

Munster was second on the road and was 1’56.3’ off the pace, looking all at sea and a shadow of the driver who took his maiden stage win in Monte Carlo three weeks ago.

Whatever the issue was with Fourmaux’s and Tanak’s Hyundais, it was sorted at the midday service and the two troubled drivers bounced back in style. Fourmaux took the stage win with Tänak one second behind and Evans 0.2 seconds further back.

Katsuta overshot a corner and had to reverse out, losing only 4.4 seconds but it allowed Evans some breathing space at the top of the leaderboard with a six second overall lead, while Tänak found himself 11.3 seconds adrift of the top spot, and shadowed by Neuville, 2.6 seconds behind in fourth.

“I overshot and backed up, I don’t know how much I lost. It was a stupid mistake but this is the first time I made a mistake this weekend so it is okay. I want to continue on. I feel very confident we can get the time back and will try not to make a mistake again,” the Toyota star reported at the end of the stage.

Stage 13 claimed the first major scalp – Fourmaux ran wide into a snowbank, and the front end of the Hyundai dug in. Although he tried to power the car out, it was beached up to the chassis. The frozen crew tried – in vain – to dig themselves out and were forced to throw in the towel, a fate that also befell Tuukka Kauppinen earlier in the day.

The final forest stage, SS 14, saw Neuville bank another stage win, one second quicker than Katsuta and 2.4 seconds up on Tänak. Evans dropped 2.6 seconds to Katsuta to end the serious business with a six second lead with the third Umeå Sprint left to run.

Evans had a moment with a snowbank, oh-so-close to ‘doing a Fourmaux’ but he got away with it. “It wasn’t a big hit with a bank, pretty low grip and I lost the front on the way in. The speed wasn’t so wrong, just the angle of the car was wrong. It hurts a bit down the next straight,” said Evans after his heart-stopping moment in stage 14.

The final stage saw Evans go into a sharp corner a bit too hot and he half spun and stalled, losing three seconds to Katsuta; the inter team fight was three seconds going into Super Sunday while lurking ever closer to the lead, Neuville was 3.3 seconds behind the Japanese driver and 6.3 seconds off the top step of the podium.

Tänak held on to fourth in spite of managing issues, which he refused to elaborate on. Rovanperä started the day 23 seconds off the pace and ended the day 22.9 seconds behind Evans.

Martins Sesks held sixth, 12.2 seconds ahead of fellow newbie Sami Pajari who in turn was 22.2 seconds ahead of Josh McErlean. 40.1 seconds behind the Irishman, was Munster…

In WRC2, Oliver Solberg enjoyed a comfortable 39 second lead over Roope Korhonen with Mikko Heikkila up in to third.

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Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin lost the lead of Rally Sweden twice, once to Takamoto Katsuta and once to Ott Tänak, but by the time the crews rolled into the stop control on the final Friday stage, the Toyota Gazoo Racing crew held a 0.6 second lead over Katsuta who won stage five and took the overall lead.

Evans struck back one stage later before succumbing to Tanak’s flying Hyundai i20 N on stage seven, dropping to third overall.

The final stage may have only been 5.1km long but it was enough for Evans to end the day clinging on to the lead from his on-form Japanese teammate.

The Welshman started the day in fine form, with the temperatures recording -12°C, bagging the opening stage scratch time before Hyundai’s coming man Adrien Fourmaux took two stage wins on the trot to keep Evans very much on his toes and under pressure.

Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak both complained of understeer, as did Kalle Rovanperä and Grégoire Munster in the lead M-Sport Ford Puma. All four bled time throughout the morning.

At the midday service, Evans led Fourmaux by 1.9 seconds with Tänak 4.3 seconds behind and 2.2 seconds ahead of Katsuta, the top four blanketed by 8.4 seconds. The leading Ford Puma belonged to rookie Rally1 driver Josh McErlean and Eoin Tracey, something of an indictment on Munster’s performance.

After service and some tweaking Katsuta, Tänak, Neuville and Evans each took a stage win and by the end of the day’s action, the top five were covered by 9.1 seconds!

Sami Pajari was flying on the day’s opening stage but gave a Valentine’s kiss to a snow bank, pulling a tyre off the rim which cost 40 seconds as the Yaris limped through the stage.

The other youngster in the field, Latvian Martins Sesks built up his speed over the day, recording the third fastest time on stage five as well as stage six as he builds his confidence of rallying on snow and ice and ended the day the fastest of the M-Sport quartet.

In Rally2, Oliver Solberg has a 20.7 second lead over Roope Korhonen having won five of the day’s seven stages. Georg Linnamäe lies third, some 45 seconds off the pace in spite of winning stage six.

Positions after SS8:

1. Evans, Katsuta +1.9, Tänak +3.6, Fourmaux +9.3, Neuville +14.3

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Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has announced its line-up for the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship season as it further strengthens its squad of drivers with a mix of young talent and title-winning experience.

After winning eight out of 13 rallies in 2024 and claiming a fourth consecutive manufacturers’ championship at the season-ending Rally Japan, TGR-WRT will enter 2025 with the mission to defend its crown and fight for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles. It will be able to count on an expanded line-up of cars and drivers, with four or five GR Yaris Rally1 entries set to appear on each event.

Joining the team to start his first full season at the highest level will be22 year-old Finn Sami Pajari, following an impressive 2024 season in which he won the WRC2 drivers’ championship driving the GR Yaris Rally2 car and performed well in his first three outings in Rally1 machinery in Finland, Chile and Central Europe. Pajari’s inclusion in the TGR-WRT roster demonstrates their commitment to developing young drivers as well as the GR Yaris Rally2’s role in providing a pathway to the top of the sport.

Pajari, who will confirm the identity of his co-driver in due course, is one of four drivers who are set to feature on every rally.

Double world champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen will return to competing full-time with the team in 2025 after taking four wins from seven starts during a partial campaign this year. Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin, winners of last weekend’s Rally Japan, continue for their sixth successive season with the team, with Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston also returning for another year. Eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais will once more contest a partial schedule of selected events after scoring three victories this season.

Jari-Matti Latvala will continue in the role of Team Principal and will drive one of the most successful Toyota rally cars – the Celica ST185 – in Toyota Gazoo Racing colours in the FIA European Historic Rally Championship.

Juha Kankkunen will take up the role of Deputy Team Principal. A four-time world champion, who won the last of his titles driving the Toyota Celica ST185 in 1993, Kankkunen will bring considerable experience to share with the drivers and other team members

The post Toyota Gazoo Racing announces strong WRC line-up for 2025 appeared first on Motorsport Week.

The first full day of WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal delivered action in spades as five different stage winners made for a very close fight for the lead.

Kalle Rovanperä overcame a challenging Friday to lead a frenzied see-saw battle for the top spot. Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston got the ball rolling taking the scratch time in the first gravel stage and despite running first on the road, Thierry Neuville was second quickest, hanging on to the overall lead by 0.8 seconds.

Hyundai’s third stand-in driver Dani Sordo, enjoying his first outing since Japan last year, took the next two stages, before Neuville bounced back to take the final stage before the tyre change.

Rovanperä initially languished in fifth overall after a lacklustre opener but posted top-three times in the remaining seven tests, confidently climbing the standings despite reporting excessive understeer in his GR Yaris.

He seized the lead after overtaking early pacesetter Takamoto Katsuta on the afternoon’s second test at Lousã and went fastest on the penultimate stage at Arganil, but Ogier’s blistering run through the Mortágua finale narrowed the gap and intensified the pressure.

“It has been a great battle the whole day,” admitted Rovanperä “I could not do much more [in the last one] because my tyres were in such bad condition at the rear and it was just about surviving.

“[The battle] is only fun if you are winning, so let’s see!”

Tyre management played a crucial role. Pirelli’s soft compound rubber was favoured for this morning’s sandy surfaces, while hard tyres came into play in the afternoon when the repeated stages were rougher and temperatures higher.

Ogier’s late surge propelled him from fourth to second overall. He could have potentially led overnight were it not for an intercom failure during SS5 and a loss of hybrid power on SS8.

Katsuta lived up to his promise to push hard from the outset, clinching the Mortágua 1 stage win as well as setting top-three times on both runs of Arganil. He was happy to bring up the rear of a Toyota 1-2-3 overnight despite falling 3.7sec behind Ogier, while Ott Tänak completed the day just 0.7sec further back in fourth after admitting to a “not nice” feeling behind the wheel of his Hyundai i20 N.

Although Toyota enjoyed a successful day, misfortune befell title-hunting GR Yaris driver Elfyn Evans, whose co-driver Scott Martin resorted to using his mobile phone to access a digital copy of their pace notes after misplacing the physical book before SS7. Their frustrations were compounded by a tyre being pushed off the wheel rim in the same stage, costing the British pair almost a minute.

That turn of events was a boon for championship leader Thierry Neuville, who headed Evans by six points before this round.

Despite facing the challenge of opening the road and sweeping a cleaner and faster line for those running behind, Neuville managed to stay in touch with the leaders and ended 0.2sec behind his Hyundai colleague Dani Sordo in sixth. Sordo lost hybrid power for SS5 but still managed to win three of the day’s eight stages.

M-Sport Ford Puma hotshot Adrien Fourmaux headed Evans on his return to the Matosinhos service park while Grégoire Munster and WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg completed the top 10.

Saturday hosts the longest leg of the rally, with 145km of action packed into two loops of four stages before the Lousada super special stage concludes the day.

Leading positions after Friday:

1. K Rovanerä / J Halttunen FIN Toyota GR Yaris 1h 25m 0.4s

2. S Ogier / V Landais FRA Toyota GR Yaris +1.0s

3. T Katsuta / A Johnston Toyota GR Yaris JPN +4.7s

4. O Tänak / M Järveoja EST Hyundai i20 N +5.4s

5. D Sordo C Carrera ESP Hyundai i20 N +17.9

6. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 N +18.1

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Takamoto Katsuta went wide in SS10 and got sucked into a snowbank. There’s no spectators around although two marshals made their way to help, digging the deep snow out from under the car by hand.

It is unknown if the Yaris has suffered  any damage.

Esapekka Lappi finds himself with a near minute and a half lead…

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Stage four proved dramatic when Ott Tänak lost the rear of his Hyundai i20 N and clipped a snowbank which spun him around nose first into a snowbank.

The car suffered front-end damage and Tänak is done for the day.

Seventh on the road, Rovanperä hit a snowbank 12.6km into the stage damaging his car and has retired from the morning loop.

It’s been snowing all day and the skies are leaden, making visibility challenging.

At the sharp end of the field, a huge fight is underway between the Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris of Takamoto Katsuta and the Hyundai i20 N of Esapekka Lappi.

After stage four, with the leaders out, the Japanese driver lead the Finn by 11.4 seconds, which Lappi slashed to 5.3 after stage five and by stage six, the dueling drivers were 0.3 seconds apart!

The drive of the day so far has come from Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria, who hold third in their M-Sport Ford Puma.

Oliver Solberg is fifth overall in his Skoda WRC2 and only 2.8 seconds off Elfyn Evans in fourth. Georg Linnamäe and James Morgan, who set the second fastest time of anyone in stage six, is sixth overall in their Yaris WRC2

The post Rovanperä and Tänak out, Katsuta leads! appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Dani Sordo and Adrien Fourmaux both crashed out of FORUM8 Rally Japan on the first stage of Friday morning after going off the road at the very same location in SS2.

Treacherous conditions greeted the crews in Isegami’s Tunnel 1 with heavy rainfall and lingering leaves resulting in grip levels akin to an ice rink.

Having set a storming pace through the early sectors, Takamoto Katsuta was the first driver to come unstuck at the right-hand bend 11.8km after the start. The Japanese star spun his Toyota GR Yaris and the resulting impact caused radiator damage, forcing him to complete the stage in EV mode.

But worse was to come shortly afterwards when Spain’s Dani Sordo arrived at the same location. The Spaniard was not so fortunate, sliding his Hyundai i20 N down an embankment and brushing a number of trees in the process.

M-Sport Ford Puma youngster Adrien Fourmaux, making his first top-level start in more than a year, went off the road in the same place. All crews involved were unharmed but the stage was red-flagged as a result.

The post Katsuta, Sordo and Fourmaux crash out in Japan appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Three drivers will be competing in various national rallies as they prepare for the upcoming Rally Sweden in February.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi and M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tänak have all entered national rallies in their preparations for round two of the 2023 WRC season.

Tänak will take is Puma Rally1 to Estonia on 4^th February to compete in the Otepää Rally whereas Katsuta and Lappi take their respective machines to the Kuopio Ralli in Finland on the same weekend.

Testing restrictions mean that this year teams are only allowed 21 days of testing per year – seven days per driver. Because of this, crews have decided to compete in national rounds as they are not classified as test days.

Tänak said: ‘It’s great we can take the Puma Rally1 to my home roads and I’m sure that the local rally fans are happy for this news.”

Thierry Neuville was critical of the new rules calling them “ridiculous” in the opening round at Monte-Carlo

“We need to be prepared. We have many events with bad shakedowns that are not representative of the rallies at all, and not having a test could make it somehow dangerous at some point if you don’t get the right settings from the beginning. But it is what it is.”

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