INDIA in F1

Tag: WRC, Rally

  • Gaurav Gill to take part in WRC2 at Acropolis Rally of Greece

    Gaurav Gill to take part in WRC2 at Acropolis Rally of Greece

    New Delhi, 5 Sept. 2023: Indian rally ace Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill, is all set for another World Rally Championship (WRC) outing in the 2023 season as he is all set to take part in one of the world’s toughest rallies, the Acropolis Rally of Greece scheduled from September 7 to 10.

    Widely hailed as the ‘Rally of Gods’, the event will cover a total distance of 1,235 km, including 15 special stages stretching across 307 km over four days this weekend. This year as well, the spectators will witness 72 teams fighting it out for their spot in the grueling event.

    The only Indian among the world’s best rally drivers, Gill will compete in the 30-car WRC2 category in a specially-prepped Škoda Fabia R5 alongside his French co-driver, Florian Barral. Supported by a potent pit crew team of Italian team Delta Rally, Gill will try to set new benchmark for himself. The rally will also be featuring previous Acropolis winner and current WRC2 championship leader Andreas Mikkelsen along with title rivals Yohan Rossel and Sami Pajari.

    The Skoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 spec car with a 5-speed, sequential, manual gearbox, that enables a driver to shift gears in milliseconds. The R5 is geared to touch a top speed of 200 km/h

    Seven-time national champion and three-time APRC champion, Gill, will be in his element around the hot, dusty, and rock-strewn stages of the Rally Acropolis. Gill had put on a dazzling display of speed to finish sixth in a 35-car WRC 2 field last year.

    On his participation this season,Gill said, “I’m really looking forward to driving in the Rally Acropolis. The sweltering heat, the dust, the rocky mountain passes and loose gravel all combine to make this one of the most punishing rallies on the calendar. This event is not for the faint-hearted but these conditions play to my strengths. I expect to be in my element this weekend and I’m going to give it everything to bring home a strong result.”

    Last year, Gill, a master of gravel, finished his campaign just about 1 second per km behind WRC 2 leader E. Lindholm, while recording some of his best performances against seasoned WRC top category competitors, like T. Neuville. Putting himself and his car to the ultimate test in a low-visibility situation in the previous year, Gaurav is all set to take on the challenge this season as well.

    The action starts post the ceremonial flag-off in Athens on Thursday as the teams will be ready to take on the brand new EKO Super Special Stage located in and around the city’s waterfront spanning 1.48kms. World’s top Rally drivers will run one at a time displaying their mean machines in front of thousands of fans. 

    Fans cheering for Gill can watch the event live on www.wrc.com     

  • Rovanpera wins Rally Estonia: WRC

    Rovanpera wins Rally Estonia: WRC

    Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen have made it five wins in this season’s FIA World Rally Championship and their seventh in total with their second victory on Rally Estonia.

    After scoring their first WRC career triumph in Estonia 12 months ago, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT pair moved in front on Friday’s final stage and steadily pulled clear of their rivals to take top spot in their hybrid-powered Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.

    They underlined their dominance by taking the rain-hit Wolf Power Stage with a winning margin of 22.5s to secure outright victory by 1m00.9s ahead of team-mates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. Home heroes Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja completed the podium for the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team.

    With seven rounds run, Rovanperä and Halttunen head the provisional championship standings by 83 points. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT head the provisional Manufacturers’ order by 87 points.

    In the FIA WRC2 category defending champion Andreas Mikkelsen (Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) fought off Teemu Suninen’s late charge to take his third win of the season after Suninen reported his Hyundai Motorsport N-entered i20 N Rally2 dropped on to two cylinders during the final stage.

    The day report, including details of the FIA WRC3 Junior winner, and the post-event press conference transcript will follow.

  • Ott Tanak extends lead: Arctic Rally Finland

    Ott Tanak extends lead: Arctic Rally Finland

    27 Feb 2021: Ott Tänak mastered Saturday’s second leg of Arctic Rally Finland to carry a substantial lead into Sunday’s finale.

    The Estonian won three of the six superfast snow and ice speed tests in his Hyundai i20 to add to Friday’s opening leg double. He heads Kalle Rovanperä by 24.1sec with two more remaining at this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

    His joy was in contrast to the disappointment suffered by World Champion Sébastien Ogier. The championship leader buried his Toyota Yaris into a snowbank 200 metres from the end of the closing test and plunged off the leaderboard as he battled for 20min to dig it out.

    Tänak stretched his advantage to 23.6sec after winning two of this morning’s three stages in perfect winter conditions in Lapland’s forests. He held the Finnish youngster and a fast-closing Thierry Neuville at bay this afternoon to put himself in a strong position.

    Despite overnight set-up changes to his Yaris, Rovanperä remained frustrated with his car’s balance. He yielded a few seconds after swiping a snowbank and after winning the penultimate stage, he came under fierce pressure from a charging Neuville in the final test.

    The Belgian’s tyre strategy worked to perfection and he was quickest by more than 12sec to slash Rovanpera’s advantage to 1.8sec. It was a better afternoon for Neuville who earlier struggled to hear co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe’s pace notes above his i20’s engine noise.

    Team-mate Craig Breen found tyre management more tricky as conditions worsened this afternoon. With frozen gravel poking through the ice and loose snow on the surface, the Irishman fell back to fourth, almost 30sec adrift of Neuville.

    Toyota’s Elfyn Evans broke Tänak’s run of stage wins this morning but the Welshman also struggled to manage his tyres and admitted he was often too cautious. He was 10.1sec behind Breen.

    Oliver Solberg surpassed all expectations on his FIA WRC World Rally Car debut. The 19-year-old was a stunning third in the opening stage and returned to the Rovaniemi base in sixth – despite losing his glasses ahead of the final stage!

    Takamoto Katsuta finished 7.6sec behind after a daylong scrap with Solberg and Ogier, with Ford Fiesta duo Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith next up. FIA WRC2 leader Esapekka Lappi completed the leaderboard in a Skoda Fabia.

    Lorenzo Bertelli retired his Fiesta after plunging into a snowbank in the opening stage, while Pierre-Louis Loubet exited with technical troubles after doing the same later on.

    In FIA WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen, driving a Skoda Fabia Rally2 for Toksport, pushed hard to stay on Lappi’s tail. The Norwegian admitted he was already driving on the limit and didn’t have much more to give. Nikolay Gryazin is 36.0sec behind Mikkelsen in third.

    In the FIA WRC3 class, home hero Teemu Asunmaa still leads the way, 12.5sec ahead of Estonia’s Egon Kaur and with a comfortable advantage of 1min and 18sec over another fellow Finn, Eerik Pietarinen.

    Sunday’s finale comprises two runs of the 22.47km Aittajärvi test, south of Rovaniemi. The second pass forms the live TV Wolf Power Stage, with bonus points up for grabs for the top five drivers and manufacturers.

    The provisionnal classification can be consulted here.

  • Sebastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia win Rally Mexico; it’s Ogier’s 6th

    Sebastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia win Rally Mexico; it’s Ogier’s 6th

    Mexico City, 15 March 2020: Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia claimed the win at the end of Saturday on Rally México after the decision was taken to stop the event in the face of fast-changing travel restrictions connected with the global COVID-19 virus outbreak. Ott Tänak piped Teemu Suninen to second place in a thrilling afternoon finale.

    Rally officials, the WRC Promoter and FIA reached a decision to halt the event after SS21. Enough stage distance had been covered to ensure that the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship was eligible for full championship points – with the exception of points for the cancelled Power Stage – and it gave team personnel and members of the international media additional time to return to their countries before any further restrictions were put in place on air travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
     
    Ogier guided his Toyota Yaris WRC to four stage wins on his way to a 27.8-second victory over defending World Champion Ott Tänak. The success was the Frenchman’s 48th WRC career win, a feat surpassed only by Loeb’s remarkable 79 successes. It also moved Ogier and co-driver, Julien Ingrassia, to the top of the World Championship standings and enabled Toyota to increase its lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship. It was the factory Toyota team’s first success on the event and marked the fourth manufacturer with whom the Frenchman has won the rally.

    Rally Mexico podium on Saturday as it ends early due to Corona fears. An FIA image

    M-Sport Ford’s Teemu Suninen fought gallantly to fend off a fierce afternoon challenge from Tänak in his defence of second place, but the young Finn came up just short as the Estonian moved up to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship behind Ogier, Evans, Neuville, and Rovanperä. Tänak won six of the 20 special stages after fighting back from an accident that damaged the rear of the car on Friday morning.

    Elfyn Evans came into the weekend as the series leader but it was never going to be easy for the Welshman to finish on the podium from his first day starting position. Fourth overall enabled the Toyota driver to stay on the coattails of his team-mate in the title race. Young Kalle Rovanperä finished fifth in the third of the Yaris WRCs.

    Sixth-placed Pontus Tidemand wrapped up his third victory in the FIA WRC2 category in Léon with a dominant performance in a Toksport Škoda Fabia Evo. The Swede erred on the side of caution over the final day and eased to victory over Rally Mexico debutant Nicolay Gryazin by 1min 57.7sec, the gap exacerbated by a late drive shaft issue for the Russian.

    Gryazin’s Hyundai team-mate Ole-Christian Veiby ran off a string of stage wins over the final leg, but brake issues had cost the Norwegian too much time on Friday. He finished in 10th place.
     
    Gus Greensmith reached the finish in ninth. He lost out on a top six finish in the second of the Ford Fiesta WRCs after a time-consuming battery issue on the second stage of the day and recovered strongly to gain an extra pace on the closing super specials.
     
    Young Bolivian driver Marco Bulacia had missed out on a FIA WRC2 category win on the event in 2019, but the talented Škoda Fabia driver dominated the newly-named FIA WRC3 section, finished eighth overall and 4min 11.1sec in front of the Citroën C3 of Chilean runner-up Emilio Fernández. Ricardo Triviño was the leading Mexican driver in 12th overall, third in WRC3 and winner of the NACAM category after an impressive drive.

    2020 Rally Mexico – Final official results:

    1. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia (FRA)Toyota Yaris WRC     2hr 47min 47.6sec
    2. Ott Tänak (EST)/Martin Järveoja (EST)          Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC2hr 48min 15.4sec
    3. Teemu Suninen (FIN)/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN)                  Ford Fiesta WRC2hr 48min 25.5sec
    4. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR)     Toyota Yaris WRC          2hr 49min 01.0sec
    5. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN)Toyota Yaris WRC2hr 50min 08.1sec
    6. Pontus Tidemand (SWE)/Patrick Barth (SWE)                 Škoda Fabia Evo2hr 58min 16.9sec
    7. Nicolay Gryazin (RUS)/Yaroslav Fedorov (RUS)Hyundai NG i20 3hr 00min 14.6sec
    8. Marco Bulacia (BOL)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA)                  Citroën C33hr 01min 25.1sec
    9. Gus Greensmith (GBR)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR)      Ford Fiesta WRC     3hr 01min 44.1sec
    10. Ole-Christian Veiby (NOR)/Jonas Andersson (SWE) Hyundai NG i203hr 03min 19.8sec
  • FIA Junior WRC gets underway at Rally Sweden

    FIA Junior WRC gets underway at Rally Sweden

    File photo courtesy Jr WRC championship

    Torsby (Sweden), 11 Feb 2020: The 2020 FIA Junior WRC Championship gets underway at this weekend’s Rally Sweden – with 16 of the sport’s most promising young talents going head-to-head for one of the biggest prizes in motorsport.

    Since the junior series as we know it first started, only the 2011 FIA WRC Academy can boast more entries and it goes without saying that this year’s championship is expected to be extremely close-fought.

    Taking to the wheel of identical EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta R2T19s equipped with Pirelli’s Sottozero ICE tyres, it all gets underway this weekend with the youngsters keen to showcase their skills on the FIA World Rally Championship’s only true winter rally.

    Due to unseasonably mild weather impacting the rally route, a reduced schedule will see the crews tackle 180 competitive kilometres across 11 stages in Sweden and neighbouring Norway – and it has never been more important to be quick out of the box!

    And with the potential for a relatively thin layer of ice, the crews will also have to pay close attention to their strategy, set-up and tyre management – especially when it comes to ensuring they retain as many studs as possible over the entire loop.

    Rally Sweden has formed a part of the Junior WRC three times, and all three times there has been a Swedish winner – Per-Gunnar Andersson in 2006, Dennis Rådström in 2018 and Tom Kristensson in 2019.

    So it goes without saying that all eyes will be on the Swedes once again this year – Kristensson looking to do the double against strong competition from last year’s Swedish Junior Rally Champion, Pontus Lönnström.

    Fellow Scandinavians include Sami Pajari who was pushed all the way to last year’s Finnish SM3 Championship by compatriot Lauri Joona, as well as the latest in a long line of Norwegian Solbergs – son of Henning and nephew of Petter, Oscar Solberg.

    Estonian’s Ken Torn and Latvia’s Mārtiņš Sesks are also no strangers when it comes to winter rallying and should not be discounted when it comes to challenging for the win.

    Others may not be as used to snow and ice, but last year’s graduates – Raul Badiu, Fabrizio Zaldivar and Enrico Oldrati – will be able to draw on the experience they gained 12 months previously, and Ruairi Bell is no novice when it comes to the white stuff having rallied in Latvia since starting his career in 2016.

    Fellow Brit Catie Munnings also got some recent experience of ice and snow when she took to the wheel of a specially modified Bentley Continental GT3 at Austria’s GP Ice Race earlier this month.

    Returning to the rally car after being crowned the 2018 eSports Champion, Jon Armstrong will contest Rally Sweden for the first time in reality and it’s a similar story for Fabio Andolfi as the Italian looks to use his four-wheel-drive experience to his advantage.

    Fellow Italians Tommasco Ciuffi and Marco Pollara will be making their world stage debut outside Rally Italia Sardegna, and all crews are keen to make a strong start to their 2020 seasons.

    FIA Junior WRC Team Director, Maciej Woda, said: “Firstly, on behalf of the entire FIA Junior WRC Championship, I would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to Glenn Olsson [Rally Sweden CEO] and his team who have been working around the clock to ensure this event goes ahead. Rally Sweden is such an iconic round of the FIA World Rally Championship, and always provides fantastically close-fought competition – especially in the Junior WRC and I’m looking forward to more of that this year.

    “It’s always great to start the season here in Sweden, and this year we have 16 highly talented and motivated youngsters all keen to show what they can do on the snow, gravel and asphalt of the FIA World Rally Championship. The Swedish stages offer a unique challenge and it will be interesting to see if anyone can topple the two locals this year. This will be a rally of strategy, and those who are quick out of the box and on the ball when it comes to tyre strategy could well come out on top.”

  • Team MRF Tyres to take on 2020 FIA European Rally Championship

    Team MRF Tyres to take on 2020 FIA European Rally Championship

    File photo of Gaurav Gill in the APRC Malaysian leg with MRF tyres. Gill won three APRC titles on MRF tyres. Photo by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 4 Feb 2020: Team MRF Tyres will be back on the international rally stage in 2020 with a full season European Rally Championship campaign. Ireland’s Craig Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle will spearhead  the campaign driving a Hyundai i20 R5 prepared by the Italian BRC Racing Team.

    Craig Breen needs no introduction to rally fans having competed in 61 WRC rallies, twice finishing on the podium. He is the reigning Irish Tarmac Rally Champion and finished second in the 2015 European Rally Championship.

    Paul Nagle has won five WRC events as a co-driver. Now back with Breen, they bring a wealth of experience to the MRF Tyres team.

    The MRF Tyres Rally team has won the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) nine times, and made an entry into the World Rally Championshop in 2018 in the WRC2 class for gathering data for product development. This led to a year of testing and development in 2019 of the next generation of MRF Tyres with Breen and WRC legend Mikko Hirvonen. The 2020 European Rally Championship represents the next big step for MRF Tyres.

    The first round of the Championship is the Azores Rallye, which will take place on the Portuguese island from 26-28 March.

    MRF Tyres driver Craig Breen said: “I am really happy to start this adventure with MRF Tyres. We worked together last year placing emphasis on tyre development. Now I am really looking forward to embarking on this journey in the European Rally Championship. It will be a great adventure to get back to some rallies I have done in the past along with some new rallies. It will be a great year with MRF Tyres, BRC Racing Team and Hyundai Motorsport. I am looking forward to the Azores Rally and getting the program started.”

    Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Andrea Adamo said: “I am really looking forward to seeing the results of this new partnership between MRF Tyres and the BRC Racing Team. The European Rally Championship is one of the most important series in the sport. The season includes some very famous events, and is a great test for the cars, and for the tyres in all conditions. MRF Tyres have already had great success in rallying, establishing themselves as very competitive option for drivers and teams. Hopefully this season between them, BRC and the Hyundai i20 R5, they can add more to their story in motorsport.”

    MRF Tyres Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Mr. Arun Mammen said: “MRF Tyres has a long and proud history in rallying in India and the Asia Pacific region. With nine APRC titles, it is the right time to take the next step and take Indian motorsport into the European Rally Championship. To work with great professionals in the field like Craig Breen, Paul Nagle, BRC Racing Team and Hyundai Motorsports is a great privilege. We know it will be a challenge to compete with our European rivals but we are committed to rallying in the long term and we are aiming to learn and develop. After all, MRF Tyres is India’s number one tyre company and pioneering motorsports in India.”

    About MRF Tyres: MRF Tyres was established in 1946 and now employs over 16,000 people and has revenue of around US$2.5 billion making it the biggest tyre supplier in India. MRF Tyres supplies rally and race tyres around the world.

    About the European Rally Championship: The FIA European Rally Championship, established in 1953 is one of the oldest and most prestigious rally championships in the world. Crews rally across eight rounds from March to November with four tarmac and four gravel events.

    The 2020 ERC calendar is as follows:

    Round 1: Azores Rallye (gravel), 26-28 March,
    Round 2: Rally Islas Canarias (asphalt), 7-9 May,
    Round 3: Rally Liepâja (Latvia, gravel), 29-31 May,
    Round 4: 77th Rally Poland (gravel), 26-28 June,
    Round 5: Rally di Roma Capitale (asphalt), 24-26 July,
    Round 6: Barum Czech Rally Zlín (asphalt), 28-30 August,
    Round 7: Cyprus Rally (gravel), 9-11 October,
    Round 8: Rally Hungary (asphalt), 6-8 November.

     

  • Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul take first Rallye Monte-Carlo win

    Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul take first Rallye Monte-Carlo win

    Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul receive the trophy after winning the Monte Carlo Rally, the first round of the WRC on Sunday. Photo: Fabien Dufour /Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

    Monte Carlo, 26 Jan 2020: Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul have triumphed on Rallye Monte-Carlo for the first time, after winning all the stages on the final day: including the rally-closing Power Stage – which awarded the Belgian pair five additional championship points – by a margin of just 0.016 seconds ahead of Sébastien Ogier.

    The duo only moved into the lead again on Sunday morning, having been fastest after the two Thursday night stages that opened the rally. In total, Neuville claimed nine of the sixteen Monte-Carlo stages this year – to snatch the victory by just 12.6 seconds. Behind them, the Toyota crews of Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans were separated by less than two seconds at the finish in second and third respectively.

    Evans and Ogier had both led throughout Friday and Saturday, but Neuville gained more confidence in his set-up and pace notes throughout Saturday and his two rivals dropped time – especially during the repeated Col de Turini stages on Sunday, which was characterised by black ice.

    Ogier only overhauled his team mate on the very last stage, claiming four extra championship points for second-fastest time on the Power Stage. In the end though, all three podium finishers were separated by less than 15 seconds after 304 competitive kilometres, showing how close the margins had been throughout the most famous event on the World Rally Championship calendar.

    Neuville now leads the drivers’ championship by eight points from Ogier, while Hyundai has a two-point advantage over Toyota in the manufacturers’ standings.

    On Sunday morning, M-Sport’s new recruit Esapekka Lappi passed Monte legend Sébastien Loeb for fourth. Due to a wrong choice of tyres for Sunday as he thought that it would rain, the Frenchman first went briefly off on worn tyres.

    The problem continued to affect him on the final loop of stages, which made him loose another position to the promising Kalle Rovanperä, who finished his first event with a World Rally Car in fifth, behind Lappi.

    Both Finns said that they were learning more about their new cars, with Lappi’s progress having been hampered by mechanical problems on Thursday night.

    In seventh, more than six minutes behind Loeb, was Toyota protégé Takamoto Katsuta, completing his first Rallye Monte-Carlo in a World Rally Car. The Japanese driver finished in front of the M-Sport factory Fiesta WRC of Teemu Suninen, eighth overall after being badly affected by the same overheating problems as Lappi on Thursday night. Third place on the Power Stage was a good consolation for Suninen, with three extra championship points.

    Two Citroën C3 R5 cars completed the top 10 in Monaco, with the privateer Eric Camilli winning the FIA WRC 3 class, ahead of PH Sport’s factory driver Mads Østberg, the FIA WRC 2 winner in 10th overall.

    2020 Rallye Monte-Carlo – Final Official Results

    1. Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3hr 10min 57.6sec
    2. Sébastien Ogier (FRA) / Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 11min 10.2sec
    3. Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 11min 11.9sec
    4. Esapekka Lappi (FIN) / Janne Ferm (FIN) Citroën C3 WRC 3hr 14min 06.6sec
    5. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN) / Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 15min 14.8sec
    6. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) / Daniel Elena (MNC) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3hr 16min 02.3sec
    7. Takamoto Katsuta (JAP) / Daniel Barritt (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 22min 25.5sec
    8. Teemu Suninen (FIN) / Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 24min 28.0sec
    9. Eric Camilli (FRA) / F. Buresi (FRA) – FIA WRC3 Citroën C3 3hr 24min 39.8sec
    10. Mads Østberg (NOR) / T. Eriksen (NOR) – FIA WRC 2 Citroën C3 3hr 25min 19.4sec
  • Elfyn Evans of Toyota reclaims lead in the Monte Carlo WRC round

    Elfyn Evans of Toyota reclaims lead in the Monte Carlo WRC round

    Monte Carlo action Photo MSport Ford

    Gap (France), 25 Jan 2020: Today’s itinerary on Rallye Monte-Carlo contains the longest road distance but a comparatively short 75-kilometre competitive distance, featuring two identical loops of two stages split by the midday service in Gap  before the crews make their way down to Monaco in the evening. Because of the icy conditions, most drivers chose studded tyres to ensure maximum grip.

    Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who led most of the action on Friday before losing the lead to his team mate Sébastien Ogier on the final stage yesterday, reclaimed the top position on the second stage this morning, thanks to a time that was 7.6 seconds faster than his closed rival.

    After extending slightly his overnight lead on the first stage this morning, Ogier dropped to second after the incredible run from Evans. The Frenchman is now 4.8 seconds off the lead with two stages to run this afternoon.

    Thierry Neuville won the opening stage of the day but couldn’t match the pace on the following tests. The Hyundai i20 Coupe driver ended Saturday morning in third place, 16.6sec behind the flying Welshman.

    Neuville’s team-mate Sébastien Loeb maintained a lonely fourth, now more than a minute and a half behind the leader. Loeb tried to save his tyres in the first part of the stage but said that he
    probably slowed down too much.

    He’s now coming under threat from M-Sport’s Esapekka Lappi, now within 35 seconds of the Frenchman, while Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä continued his solid progress in sixth overall on
    his World Rally Car debut.

    In seventh, more than six minutes behind, is the FIA WRC3 leader Eric Camilli with his privately-run R5 Citroën, going from strength to strength.

    Unlike yesterday, this morning’s action featured a classic Monte weather in the mountains around Gap, with black ice on the road causing hazardous road conditions for the competitors. One of the victims was Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who lost three minutes when he spun and hit a snow bank on SS9, dropping down to eight overall behind Camilli.

    Frenchman Nicolas Ciamin is ninth overall in another Citroën C3 R5, while Norway’s Mads Ostberg is 10th, leading FIA WRC 2 in an identical factory-entered car.

  • Elfyn Evans sets the pace in Monte Carlo; Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja safe after a heavy crash

    Elfyn Evans sets the pace in Monte Carlo; Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja safe after a heavy crash

    Elfyn Evans takes the lead on Friday in the Monte Carlo WRC round. An FIA image

    Gap (France), 24 Jan 2020: Elfyn Evans snatched the Rallye Monte-Carlo lead from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville after dominating Friday morning’s loop of three stages around Gap, while reigning World Rally Champion Ott Tänak crashed out.

    Tänak’s crash was the biggest drama of this first full day of action, when the Estonian rolled his i20 Coupe WRC halfway through SS4 as he was challenging for a top three position. He and his co-driver Martin Järveoja got out of the car on their own following the incident and were taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

    Tänak’s team mate Neuville had led after yesterday’s opening pair of night stages but the Belgian was overhauled this morning by Toyota’s debutant Evans, who led by 8.9 seconds as the cars reached the midday service, having won all three Friday morning stages.

    The asphalt was generally dry and clean, with none of the snow seen on SS2 yesterday, although some crews were affected by rain during the final stage this morning.

    Neuville still managed to keep pace with Evans and finished Friday morning in second, while Sébastien Ogier is less than a second behind in third on his first rally with a Toyota. The local hero is ahead of another well-known Rallye Monte-Carlo master, Sébastien Loeb, who however is more than 30 seconds further back. Ogier promised that he had more in hand but was just concentrating on finding out more about his new Yaris WRC today.

    This makes two Toyotas and two Hyundais in the top four so far, while their closest challenger is Esapekka Lappi in fifth, driving M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta. Lappi recovered from the overheating issues that were affecting all the Fiestas yesterday but still didn’t feel so confident. His team mate Gus Greensmith was another retirement after going off the road on the first stage this morning.

    M-Sport’s third factory driver Teemu Suninen is still in the rally, albeit far down the order in 22nd position.

    In sixth and seventh overall are two young Toyota drivers, with 19-year-old Kalle Rovanperä leading the team’s Japanese protégé Takamoto Katsuta, who will complete a partial WRC learning programme this year.

    They are classified ahead of Eric Camilli, the FIA WRC3 leader – and fastest non World Rally Car – in eighth overall.

    He leads the R5 contingent ahead of FIA WRC2 leader Ole-Christian Veiby, officially representing Hyundai in ninth overall with the NG i20. Frenchman Nicolas Ciamin rounds out the top 10.

    This afternoon, the cars are tackling three more stages as a repeat of this morning, before returning to final service in Gap.

  • Hyundai Motorsport crew Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja safe after a big crash

    Gap (France), 24 Jan 2020: Hyundai Motorsport crew Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja crashed during the fourth special stage of Rallye Monte-Carlo (SS4 Saint-Clément – Freissinières) on Friday morning.

    The Estonians, driving the #8 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, went off 9.2 kilometres into the 20.68km stage. The driver and co-driver were both able to exit the car on their own after the incident.

    Tänak and Järveoja have been taken to hospital for precautionary medical checks, as is standard procedure following a crash of this nature.

    Hyundai Motorsport will provide any further updates in its end-of-day rally report.

    The crash video here. (courtesy Tomi T Twitter @T_Tuominen )