Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais overcame everything that Rallye Monte Carlo could throw their way to claim a dominant 10^th victory at the famous event. He used every ounce of experience he’d gained over the years to conquer the treacherous route, his only moment over the entire weekend came when he clipped a pole in Thursday evening’s third stage. Flawless, in other words.

Their winning margin over their Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin was 18.5 seconds although the Welshman had to dig deep on Sunday as Hyundai’s new signing Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria closed to just four seconds in the fight for second overall.

Fourmaux started the day in third position overall but was quickly swept aside by a determined Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja in Sunday’s opening stage, not helped by the Frenchman’s slow time in the dark and icy stage.

Fourmaux struck back on stage 17, pummeling the Estonian’s time by 23.3 seconds on the penultimate test of the rally, demoting Tanak back to fourth. Tanak’s slow time put him into the clutches of Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen and sure enough, in the final Wolf Power Stage, Tanak was pushed back to fifth.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe had a torrid start to their title defense, clawing their way back to sixth place after three separate issues struck on Friday and Saturday while newbies Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy brought their Ford Puma home without a scratch on it to complete their Rally1 debut in seventh.

Toyota locked out the top three Super Sunday points paying positions with Fourmaux and Neuville taking the crumbs home this time out.

The opening stage of the day took care of Sami Pajari who skidded into a bridge and landed in a ravine, while  Takamoto Katsuta buried his GR Yaris into the undergrowth 1.8km into the stage.

Johan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand were untouchable in their Citroen C3 Rally2, taking a dominant win in WRC2, beating the non-points scoring Nikolay Gryazin by 1’13.9”. Eric Camilli took a last gasp second place in WRC2, beating out Leo Rossel in the final stage. It was the younger Rossel’s first rally in WRC2 and a first podium…

Read the full story in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.

The post Sebastian Ogier does it again! Venit,  vidit, vicit. appeared first on Motorsport Week.

With an overnight lead of 12.6 seconds in his back pocket, Sebastian Ogier spent Saturday gradually building his advantage to 24.4 seconds with one stage remaining. Running in 10^th position on the road, his final stage was run in darkness and he conceded 4.1 seconds to his second placed teammate Elfyn Evans, leaving the eight-time champion with 20.3 seconds with three Sunday stages remaining.

“I tried to manage the risk, which is not easy in Monte-Carlo,” the eight-time world champion reflected. “In these conditions you need to be prepared to lose a bit of time.”

Evans and co-driver Scott Martin were involved in a frenetic battle with Hyundai’s new signing Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria for second position overall. Fourmaux ended Friday’s action just 1.6 seconds behind the GR Yaris crew.

Saturday’s first stage saw the warring drivers tied on time. On stage 11, Fourmaux pipped Evans and took second place by half a second which became 2.8 seconds on the final stage of the morning loop.

The Welshman put his head down and re-took his runner-up place with a 1.7 second gap to the Frenchman but on the penultimate stage, the positions changed yet again, with Fourmaux 0.7 seconds ahead.

With light fading fast on the final stage, Evans did what he had to do and blitzed Fourmaux’s time to end the day with a 4.8 second advantage.

While the focus was on the fight for second, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja wrung the neck of their Hyundai, taking four stage wins to move to within 2.5 seconds of the podium. He’d closed in on Kalle Rovanperä during the morning loop, narrowing the gap to one second before surging ahead after the midday service.

After completing the final stage on Friday, Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka were forced to retire from the rally after encountering an electrical problem on the way back to the service park. The M-Sport Ford crew repaired the car and Munster thanked them by claiming his first ever WRC stage win, powering his Puma to the fastest time on the day’s opening stage by 0.8 seconds, beating Ogier and Rovanperä.

“Really good feeling”, beamed Munster. “Everyone was a bit gutted yesterday but I think this is a really big thank you for them, all the team that worked really hard last night. Years of commitment and work that finally get a reward, it is a very nice feeling.”

Rovanperä prefers fast, open stages and he was struggling to find the time, and ended the day in fifth, one position up on his flu-ridden teammate Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston, who set the fastest time on stage 12.

Sami Pajari continued his considered approach to the tricky rally, and held a solid seventh overall while the other novice, Josh McErlean entered the top ten in ninth place at the end of the longest day of the rally.

Neuville’s woes persisted in the morning when a mysterious power loss slowed him 1.4km into the opening stage. A quick system reset restored performance, but by that point the Belgian had already leaked another 50sec.

“I had to do a reset. The car went and then I lost the power like in Japan, we thought the trouble was gone. In the situation we were in we said to do a reset and we were fine since. No idea, no alarm, nothing. Now it is working,’ Neuville reported.

The three problem’s Neuville encountered over Friday and Saturday left the Belgian over five minutes off the lead.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin held tenth but wasn’t eligible to score points, leaving Yohan Rossel with more than 2 minutes in hand over Gus Greensmith.

The post Sebastian Ogier extends Monte lead; Grégoire Munster takes maiden stage win              appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Chasing his record-breaking 10^th Rallye Monte Carlo victory, Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais slithered their Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris to the top of the leaderboard after the first full day of action at the opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

The six stages – five were run after SS5 was cancelled due a spectator medical event – had it all. Dry tarmac, wet tarmac, wet mud, and of course, black ice, making grip levels unpredictable at best and a nerve-wracking lottery at worst. Teams had a wide array of Hankook’s new rubber to choose from and countless variations abounded. Full studs, studded crossed with full winter, or even super-soft rubber all round.

Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen set the timing sheets alight and set the benchmark time on stage four, but the most impressive drive came from Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka in the their M-Sport Ford Puma,  only 1.4 seconds behind the double WRC Champion.

All the top runners had the same storyline; difficult to predict how much and where, grip was available.

Stage six saw the first of several incidents: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe arrived at a sharp right-hand corner and couldn’t slow down enough. The Hyundai slithered over a mound on the apex of the corner which pitched the i20 N into a ditch on the opposite side of the road. The left-rear corner was wrecked, but the reigning champion dragged his car through the rest of the stage and back to the service park.

 “I think we paid the price for not having enough experience with the tyre for the dry section, it felt like the tyre was quite stable then suddenly I lost the brakes, saw the ditch and lost the rear’”, the Belgian explained.

Hyundai teammate Ott Tanak and Martin Järveoja also had a moment, understeering into a ditch, missing a pole by inches and running along the ditch until he could floor the throttle to get back on to the road. At the stage end, after surveying what was left of his car, the Estonian said: “There is a lot missing but I am happy to be here. Some black ice was there.”

Ogier too, had a moment, a briefly ‘ditched’ his GR Yaris as well, but he got away with it. Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen went off in exactly the same place as Ogier, pulling a tyre off the rim.

Adrien Fourmaux/Alex Coria won the stage with another team-leader-esque drive from Munster, who went second quickest, beating such luminaries as Ogier, rally leader Elfyn Evans, Rovanpera and Tanak.

The afternoon loop went relatively quietly, except for Evans and Neuville. The Welshman had a spin in SS8. “I was proper steady, it just started to go and I couldn’t recover. I was on the ice, we just went a margin too far, we were almost there. We had the information, it was Bambi on ice,” he shrugged.

The spin cost Evans the lead which was now in Ogier’s hands.

Neville had a carbon copy incident on SS9 at the same corner as his stage six faux pas. This time though, he’d suffered a puncture beforehand but with the same result, bouncing over the mound and across the road into the same ditch nose first, albeit without further damage. He elaborated: “I was punctured far before, left front puncture since the beginning. We tried to go as far and as fast as we could but at some time the tyre just went and we went straight again.”

It was a French one-two in stages eight and nine with Ogier heading Fourmaux on the timesheets. At the close of business, Ogier led teammate Evans by 12.6 seconds with Fourmaux threateningly close, 1.6 seconds back in third.

Rovanpera, Tanak and Munster rounded out the top six.

In WRC2, Yohan and Leo Rossel’s Citroen C3s sandwiched Eric Camilli’s Hyundai, although Nikolay Gryazin – who is not registered to score points on this round – was keeping Skoda’s flag flying, 21.4 seconds behind Rossel (Y).

The post Monte master Sebastian Ogier leads after tricky Friday appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Hyundai Motorsport gave Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria an early Christmas present by signing the young French duo to drive a third i20 N in all 14 rounds of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship next year.

Fourmaux, who endured a torrid debut in Rally1 in 2022, stepped back into a Rally2 car in 2023 to re-build his confidence and hone his driving skills before returning to rallying’s top tier in 2024 with M-Sport Ford.

The Puma driver delivered a standout performance across an exciting season, claiming five podiums during the year.

It was suggested earlier in the year that Hyundai was re-considering its third car driver rotation strategy.

Fourmaux said: “I’m really excited to join Hyundai Motorsport for the 2025 season. It’s a big opportunity for me and Alex, and we are looking forward to getting started with the team. As a driver, you’re always looking to grow and push yourself, and this feels like the right step at the right time. Hyundai has had a strong presence in WRC for years, and I’m proud to be a part of that for the future. I’m ready to give my best and see where this journey takes us.”

Hyundai Motorsport President and Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “Our shared third car approach in 2024 allowed us to deliver one of the team’s strongest years in WRC and I would like to sincerely thank Esapekka, Dani and Andreas for their massive contribution to it. For the renewed challenges of next year, consistency and stability across all three cars will be crucial. We’re therefore delighted to confirm Adrien and Alexandre as part of our team after their incredible 2024 season. Adrien has impressed not only with the results he has achieved this season, but with his renewed mindset and attitude he has brought to his return to Rally1.  We believe our line-up of Thierry, Ott and Adrien will be a formidable force on the world’s stages in 2025.”

The post Adrien Fourmaux signs with Hyundai World Rally Team for 2025 appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Ott Tanak and Martin Järveoja completed Saturday’s six stages with a healthy 36 second lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin with just the super special stage still to run.

The championship leaders, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe stormed through the field from 15^th overall to seventh to provisionally earn four of the six points they need to secure their and Hyundai’s first Driver’s and Co-Driver’s Championships.

Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais are currently in third, followed by Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria in the Ford Puma.

Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston are fifth after spinning in stage 12, dropping out of the podium fight.

Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka are sixth.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov are safe in the lead with Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen comfortable in a championship-winning second.

The post Ott Tanak in command in WRC Japan appeared first on Motorsport Week.

It’s early days in the WRC season finale with just the opening 2.15km super special stage being completed in a packed-to-the-rafter Toyota Stadium.

Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria powered their M-Sport Ford Puma into the rally lead – a first in his WRC career – by besting Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja’s Hyundai i20 N by 0.5 seconds.

A short stage always delivers close results; Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Takamoto Katsuta set the third fastest time in his GR Yaris much to the delight of his home fans, and only 0.8 seconds off the lead.

Fourth was Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin followed by Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais in fifth, the eight-time WRC Champion tied with the champion-elect Thierry Neuville and Martin Wydaeghe.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin (Citroen C3) heads title favourite Sami Pajari by two seconds.

The action resumes on Friday with eight stages covering more than 125 kilometres of competitive distance.

The post Adrien Fourmaux leads Forum8 Rally Japan! appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja took the lead of Rally Chile BioBío after stage five, bumping Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin down to second place after the Welshman lead the 11^th round of the FIA World Rally Championship up until the first stage after the midday service. The Estonian ended the opening day a mere 0.4 seconds ahead of Evans who fought back over the final stage.

As the top drivers settled into the day’s remaining five stages after SS1 was cancelled, Evans laid down his marker, firing off a stage winning time that saw the Toyota Gazoo racing driver shade his teammate Sebastian Ogier/Vincent Landais by 6.6 seconds.

The slippery roads claimed their first victim in stage three when Ogier made a slight mistake running wide into a bank which punctured a tyre at km 4.4. The time loss changing the tyre saw the eight time champion plummet from the lead to 15^th overall.

The same stage saw the end of Martins Sesks and Renars Francis who also went wide in their M-Sport Puma Rally1 and picked up two punctures after hitting a bank and with only one spare wheel, they couldn’t get back to the service park which was 130km away and were forced to retire for the day.

Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm also picked up a puncture in the same stage, even though they never hit anything unlike their rivals.

After the morning loop of three stages, Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen were in third place in the fourth (non-points scoring) GR Yaris Rally1, a brilliant effort from the 22-year-old Finn.

Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen ended the day in third place, 2.2 seconds up on Pajari in fourth, in turn 1.4 seconds ahead of Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka in their M-Sport Ford Puma, a brilliant effort from the Luxembourger.

The second Puma of Adrien Fourmaux/Alex Coria would have been one second off the lead but for a one minute penalty for arriving late for stage five after stopping in the open section to change an alternator belt. In the process he damaged a pipe which he also had to repair. He stormed through the stage 0.2 seconds behind the scratch time off Ogier’s time.

The Ford driver wrung the Puma’s neck in the day’s final stage, taking the win by 1.8 seconds from Ogier.

Championship leader Thierry Neuville/Martin Wydaeghe brought their Hyundai i20 N home in sixth after opening the road all day, as he has done on every event since leading the title chase back in Monte Carlo.

Lappi ended the day in seventh ahead of a frustrated Fourmaux with Ogier having dragged himself back into the points in ninth, in spite of running without hybrid power in the final stage.

Nikolay Gryazin leads WRC2 after oh-so-nearly rolling his Citroen C3 in the final stage. 10.2 seconds behind is the champion elect Oliver Solberg in his Skoda Fabia RS with Yohan Rossel breathing down his neck 1.2 seconds away in third.

The post Ott Tanak leads WRC Chile after mega afternoon appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Toyota Gazoo Racing suffered a nightmare Sunday in Finland.

No one expected Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais to win the 2024 WRC Secto Rally Finland, least of all Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais.

But win it they did, 11 years after last taking victory on the World Rally Championship’s fastest rally.

Rovanperä won 11 stages of the 18 he completed, Ogier took just one win. The eight-time WRC Champion’s 61^st victory puts him into second place in the championship standings, not bad for a part-season driver!

“It’s hard to smile right now. A win in Finland is always nice but that is not the way we like to have it. Very sorry for Kalle and Jonne, amazing pace all weekend. We were unlucky in Sardinia and lost in the last stage but we are luck here. That is motorsport. I have to see if we do a full campaign but it looks like I have no other option. It is not my priority anymore but we will see,” said the rally winner.

Until stage 18 out of 20, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen had a three quarter of a minute lead but in stage 19, in all unraveled as he crashed heavily on the last proper corner of the rally. A massive rock on the racing line lifted the front of the car into the air and fired the Yaris into the trees and a huge roll – Rovanperä was a passenger and there was nothing the double world champion could do.

This came on the same stage that Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin crashed out 200m into the stage, their GR Yaris sliding wide, clipping a tree on the right which ricocheted them into the trees on the inside of the corner, leaving a trail of broken Toyota pieces littering the stage.

Thierry Neuville was into second and from a championship point of view, very much in the pound seat, 27 points ahead of Ogier. Adrien Fourmaux claimed his fourth podium of the year while Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen ended their Rally1 debut in fourth overall, banking their first top-tier stage win to boot.

Super Sunday honours – and the points – went to Esapekka Lappi from Takamoto Katsuta and Ogier while Katsuta won the Wolf Power Stage
Hyundai have opened up a 20 point lead in the Manufacturers’ stnadings, adding further to TGR’s misery.

Just four Rally1 cars made it through the 20 stages, leaving WRC2 winner Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson in fifth overall and a perfect drive. Toyota Gazoo Racing Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Juho Hänninen, enjoying a one-off outing in a GR Yaris Rally2, came home in second place ahead of the Skoda Fabia of Lauri Joona and Janni Hussi.

Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow

The post Bitter-sweet victory for Sebastian Ogier aka Toyota’s Sunday nightmare appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Seven stages and 124km awaited the crews on the second full day of rallying. The first stage was red-flagged once again as a result of badly behaved spectators but got underway after a 15 minute break.

Fourmaux stormed through the stage with the fastest time until Rovanpera got the bit between his teeth, pipping the Frenchman by 3.5 seconds and Evans by 0.9 seconds and crucially, Mikkelsen by 1.3 seconds, leaving the Norwegian in the lead by a scant half a second.

Evans remained in third 1.1 seconds off the lead with Fourmaux in fourth starting to build  a cushion over Sesks. Neuville in seventh was pressuring Munster while Katsuta remained mired in eighth.

Tanak was back in action and set the fifth fastest stage time but was ranked 14^th overall.

Stage ten was crucial – Mikkelsen dropped 5.1 seconds to Rovanpera and dropped to third overall behind Evans who shadowed the double champion’s every move.

Neuville – who started the day with a target of reaching fifth overall – passed Munster for sixth before the final stage of the morning loop.

Stage 11 was also delayed due to spectator control. Controlling spectators was an issue the last time the WRC visited Poland back in 2017 which resulted in the event dropping off the calendar. Poland’s return to the calendar this year is a one-off and given the stage cancellations and delays, it’s unlikely to be included going forward.

Once it got underway, the three-way fight for the lead intensified yet again. Rovanpera, not happy with his pace but doing an astounding job given his lack of preparation, was only third fastest but held on to the lead by one tenth from teammate Evans. Mikkelsen won the stage making it only 2.2 seconds between the top three.

Fourmaux was still in scintillating form, holding fourth adding another handful of seconds over Sesks. Neuville only shaved 0.1 seconds to Sesks in his quest to take fifth.

18.7km into the stage Kajetan Kajetanowicz reared onto two wheels and ran wide, collecting a couple of very large rocks which wrecked his Skoda’s front left suspension.

Pajari had a comfortable half a minute lead in WRC2 over Robert Virves in a Skoda.

Nothing changed during the SuperSpecial stage run before service although Tanak called it a day, unhappy with his engine and with no Saturday points available elected to head back to service to refresh his i20 N ahead of Super Sunday.

Unlucky stage 13 was next – unlucky for Evans who suffered a delaminated tyre and lost 8.9 seconds to his super-sub teammate and dropped to third overall behind Mikkelsen, 6.5 seconds adrift of the Norwegian.

In WRC2, Oliver Solberg, who was hopelessly frustrated with his Skoda on day one, seventh and 33 seconds off Pajari’s time, was flying, and closed to 2.5 seconds off Virves.

The second last stage of the day saw Rovanpera open his lead to 5.2 seconds while Evans had to do damage control, having used up his sole spare tyre. Evans was 13.3 seconds off the lead and 8.1 behind his Hyundai rival.

Fourmaux was safe(ish) in fourth, some 20 seconds ahead of Sesks who was under huge pressure from Neuville, lurking 2.4 seconds back, while Solberg edged closer to Virves in WRC2.

The final stage of the day saw Neuville throw everything at the stage which led to a small mistake which the Belgian reckons cost him a second. That second, though, was important, for Sesks also gave his all and retained fifth overall by 0.1 second!

Rovanpera flew through the final stage 6.5 seconds quicker than all comers after a phenomenal performance. Evans pipped Mikkelsen but had to  settle for third place Saturday points. Fourmaux took fourth from Sesks, Neuville, Munster and Katsuta.

Sami Pajari was in total control in WRC2 but Solberg, who’d driven his car on its door mirrors all day, was up into second, 26 seconds adrift of the flying Toyota pair.

The post Rovanpera romps into WRC Poland lead appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Sébastien Ogier has taken the Croatia Rally lead in dramatic circumstances on Sunday morning after Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans both went off the road in SS18.

Having battled since the opening stage on Friday, Neuville led Evans by just 2.6sec heading into Sunday’s second stage at Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec. In extraordinary circumstances, both drivers suffered time-consuming excursions in the test, handing the lead to Ogier with two stages to go.

Evans spun his Toyota GR Yaris on a tightening right-hander and lost around 20sec as he tried to get back underway. Neuville, meanwhile, ran wide on a left corner and hit a tree with the rear of his Hyundai i20 N. The Belgian was able to continue despite sustaining heavy damage but slipped to third after losing 23.3sec.

Ogier, who had been 11.6sec adrift of the lead coming into this final day, now holds a 9.1sec buffer over team-mate Evans with two stages remaining.

Recalling his off, Neuville said: “There were a lot of corners, and when I got the pace note, it was far too late. It’s a shame because everything was going so well.”

Adrien Fourmaux also fell off the leader board after breaking a steering arm in the same stage

The post Sunday drama turns Rally Croatia upside down appeared first on Motorsport Week.