Tag: Toyota

WRC Rally Sweden, Rovanperra keeps his cool to triumph in snowy Sweden.

Stephen Hodges

Round 2 of the World Rally Championship sees the World Rally Championship move north into the Vasterbotten region of Sweden, the only snow event on the WRC calendar and one of the fastest and most challenging. Coming into the event drivers were already talking up the possibility of this year’s Rally Sweden being the fastest WRC event ever run, due to the fast sweeping stages and the new Hybrid cars being quicker than anticipated. Speaking of which, the hybrid cars would face a real test of reliability in Sweden, the…

Read More

WRC Rally Monte Carlo, Sebastien Loeb & Ford victorious in electrifying curtain raiser for WRC’s new hybrid era.

Stephen Hodges

2022 is a year of change for the World Rally Championship. The biggest news, the new regulation cars. Gone are the high downforce record breaking monsters that ran from 2017 to 2021, replaced by a new breed of hybrid rally cars, more on that later. Sebastien Ogier, who has won 8 drivers championships, steps back from full season competition for 2022; Welshman and 2 time championship runner up Elfyn Evans now leading the Toyota world rally team. 9 time world champion Sebastien Loeb returns to do a partial season at…

Read More

WRC Safari Rally Kenya, Sebastien Ogier clinches last gasp victory as Thierry Neuville falters.

Stephen Hodges

After a 19 year hiatus, the Safari Rally returns to the WRC calendar, once again the event headquartered out of Nairobi just as it was back in 2002. Compared to 2002 though, the event is somewhat shorter and doesn’t tackle the same brutal stages; this doesn’t mean that the Safari Rally has gone soft, with punishing dusty high speed stages & enormous bumps & ruts all along the stages. Add in the punishing arid heat and you have a perfect recipe for a car breaking rally. The opening day of…

Read More

BTCC Snetterton, Turkington, Sutton & Ingram shine in Snetterton sizzler.

Stephen Hodges

The 2nd round of the 2021 BTCC championship see’s the series move to the challenging flatlands of Snetterton; more significantly, it is the first time fans have been able to attend a BTCC race event since the Brands Hatch season finale in October 2019. 4000 fans were permitted entry to the event, in line with the most recent easing of Covid19 restrictions in the UK. The championship would also welcome a new driver to the series for the Snetterton race weekend, Jessica Hawkins replacing Andy Neate in the Motorbase Ford…

Read More

WRC Portugal, Elfyn Evans fends off Hyundai charge to take victory.

Stephen Hodges

The famed gravel roads of Portugal played host to round 4 of the 2021 World Rally Championship. Portugal is one of the anchor events on the calendar, the rough dusty gravel stages punish the cars & drivers and reward the brave. Elfyn Evans paced the shakedown prior to the start of the events, but there was an expectation that this might be Hyundai’s event, given their strong track record on gravel events.  The opening day on Friday saw Hyundai stealing a march on the chasing Toyota’s & Ford’s, tyre choice…

Read More

WRC Arctic Rally Finland, Ott Tanak takes commanding victory as Kalle Rovanpera claims championship lead.

Stephen Hodges

The second round of the 2021 WRC season sees the championship move onto the frozen lands of northern Finland. The cancellation of Rally Sweden at the end of 2020 due to Covid19 restrictions necessitated a change on the calendar, the aptly named Arctic Rally Finland taking Sweden’s place, with sub zero temperatures and huge swathes of snow characterising the event, which gained fame due to Mercedes F1 driver Valterri Bottas using the event to keep his skills sharp, prior to the start of the F1 season. Friday saw the event…

Read More

WRC Monte Carlo, Ogier clinches victory from Evans & Neuville.

Stephen Hodges

Round 1 of the 2021 World Rally Championship kicks off on the winding, icy roads in the snow capped alps above Monte Carlo. It’s a miracle in itself that the event is taking place at all this year, the current rate of covid19 infections, travel restrictions as well as the mandatory 6pm curfew in France presented a massive challenge to teams, drivers & organisers. Add in the travel issues in & out of the UK along with the bureaucratic nightmare generated by Brexit, it made things extremely challenging for Ford…

Read More

WRC 2021 season preview

Stephen Hodges

The 2021 World Rally Championship is primed to get underway, just 7 weeks after the close of the 2020 season at Monza. It’s one of the shortest time lapses between 2 seasons due to the delayed 2020 season finale. Technical regulation changes are set to take come into force in 2021, the major one being the change of tyre supplier from Michelin to Pirelli, who will now supply both the WRC & WRC2 cars for the duration of the 2021 season & beyond. The change in tyre suppliers could throw…

Read More

WRC Rally Monza, Sebastien Ogier clinches 7th WRC title & victory in Monza thriller.

Stephen Hodges

The 2020 WRC season finale took place in and around the temple of speed, Monza in northern Italy. It’s the first time Monza has hosted a round of the WRC. Friday saw the first running at the Monza circuit itself, the stages using the circuit itself along with the access roads along with the old Monza banking.  The championship finale sees Elfyn Evans leading the points with Sebastien Ogier in second, just 14 points adrift. Thierry Neuville & Ott Tanak both come in as rank outsiders for championship glory, the…

Read More

BTCC Croft, Josh Cook doubles as Tom Ingram triumphs in race 3.

Stephen Hodges

Croft plays host to round 7 of the BTCC, seeing the championship heading north once more. Josh Cook stormed to a commanding pole position in his FK8 Honda Civic Type R for race 1 on Sunday, but not after drama, with Tom Ingram initially taking pole, but losing it due to a ride height infringement. The Saturday morning saw drama as Jac Constable, slated to drive the PMR Vauxhall Astra fell ill overnight on Friday and as a result withdrew from driving duties, leaving the grid one car down. Racing…

Read More

WRC Sardinia, victory for returning Dani Sordo. 

Stephen Hodges

The sun drenched italian isle of Sardinia offers itself up for the sixth round of the 2020 WRC calendar, the event was the penultimate event on the calendar, but on Friday, with Rally Monza added to the calendar in December; Opening the championship fight back up. Further broke on Friday as the provisional 2021 WRC calendar was shown for the first time. Notable changes include Wales Rally GB moving to an end of August date, away from the traditional October date.  Shakedown saw drama before the event got underway as…

Read More

BTCC Thruxton, Tom Ingram scores double; Josh Cook breaks victory duck.

Stephen Hodges

BTCC once again visits the fastest circuit in the UK, the fearsome Thruxton. The weekend would see a returning BTCC stalwart, Tom Onslow-Cole racing for Team HARD & in the following round at Silverstone. Onslow-Cole more recently has plied his trade in GT3 cars, competing with plenty of success with Ram Racing in recent times. The big driver news was fan favourite Jade Edwards. Jade has worked tirelessly for many years with plenty of success in junior formulas, but finally Jade realises her dream of becoming a BTCC driver. Jade…

Read More

WRC Rally Turkey, Elfyn Evans takes surprise victory.

Stephen Hodges

Turkey played host to round five of the 2020 World Rally Championship, the infamous rough roads have seen plenty of drama over the years, with the rocky gravel stages & searing heat sealing the events reputation as a real carbreaker. The action got underway on Friday, it was Sebastien Loeb who would set the pace throughout the Friday. Loeb, a three time winner of the event in the past knows the event well, but had never driven the stages on Friday, in the process fending off teammate Thierry Neuville &…

Read More

Toyota confirms Ogier, Evans & Rovanpera for 2020 WRC season.

Stephen Hodges

Toyota have confirmed their driver line up for the 2020 season earlier this week, confirming the long held rumour that they had signed Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans. There was an additional surprise as Toyota also announced that they had signed Kalle Rovanpera as well, son of Harri Rovanpera and WRC2 ace for Skoda for the past couple of years. It is also sees Ogier & Evans reunited as team-mates once again, both drove together for Ford in 2018. Toyota has also signed Ogier, Evans & Rovanpera for the 2021…

Read More