The 2018 World Rally Championship will be run over 13 rounds again in 2018. The Rally of Poland has been removed from the line up, due to spectator safety concerns raised by the governing body, it has been replaced by the Rally of Turkey, which will be based in the coastal resort town of Marmaris, with the proposed route running along the Mediterranean coastline. Additionally, Rally GB and Catalunya have swapped places on the schedule. 2018 FIA World Rally Championship Calendar 1. Rally Monte Carlo – January 28 2. Rally Sweden – February 18 3. Rally Mexico – March 11 4. Tour de Corse – April 8 5. Rally Argentina – April 29 6. Rally de Portugal – May 20 7. Rally Italia – June 10 8. Rally Finland – July 29 9. Rally Germany – August 19 10. Rally Turkey – September 16 11. Rally Great Britain – October 7 12. Rally Spain (Catalunya) – October 28 13. Rally Australia – November 18 .
Sebastien Loeb will return to the WRC in 2018 He will drive for Citroen on three rounds of the championship - Mexico, Corsica and Spain. The question is, will he still be competitive? As Marcus Grönholm recently commented, Sebastien likes to win, but it may not be so easy now, Loeb will be 44 when he takes the start ramp in Mexico. The 9 times WRC Champion, will face the current (and 5 times) WRC Champion, Sebastien Ogier.
17-year-old Kalle Rovanperä has signed to drive for Skoda in the WRC2 class for 2018. He won the category on the recent Rally Australia, not bad, considering he only passed his driving test a few weeks ago!
WRC & F1 Champions. No sooner than the silverware is collected, it's time to start again (Hamilton obviously didn't understand the dress code!!) A bit of pre season testing. Not long now.
Neuville was out for a pre Monte test with Hyundai last week, is 2018 going to be his year? Not a good start...
Throwback Thursday. 15 years ago, Citroen signed the super team of McRae & Sainz, with a young upstart called Loeb thrown in to support and learn. However, the Frenchman led a 1-2-3 finish in Monaco, the rest is history.
Yesterday was shakedown day: For this event, M-Sport's 3rd car will be driven by Bryan Bouffier Evans & Barritt Fastest was Neuville in the Hyundai The good old boys - 8 WRC titles between them, Juha Kankkunen & Tommi Mäkinen were out taking the latest machinery for a spin
So, the new season is under way. Ogier on his local rally, was straight on the pace Tanak was quickest of the Toyotas, on his first rally for the team Neuville was hoping for better luck, he had won more rallies than any other driver in 2017, but lost out on the title Stage 3 and Nueville's luck struck again Evans lost 4 minutes with a puncture early on, this is what's known as a cut! Ford no.3 was Frenchman Bouffier Meeke
Road opening duties were partly in the hands of Carlos Sainz Jnr As usual, Monte Carlo was all about the tyres Who says rallying's not popular nowadays Hyundai service
I don't know what Malcolm Wilson pays Ogier, but he certainly has a habit of delivering the goods 5 Monte wins on the bounce! Final result: 1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 4h18m55.5s 2 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 58.3s 3 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 1m52.0s 4 Kris Meeke, P.Nagle Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 4m43.1s 5 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 4m53.8s 6 Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 4m54.8s 7 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 4m57.5s 8 Bryan Bouffier, X.Panseri M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 7m39.5s 9 Craig Breen, S.Martin Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 9m06.7s 10 Jan Kopecky, P.Dresler Skoda Motorsport II Skoda 16m43.0s
Round 2 - Sweden Plenty of snow this year Surprise 2nd place finish for Breen Another big surprise was WRC2 winner Takamoto Katsuta, the Japanese driver beat off the factory Skodas. He is part of Tommi Makinen's quest to find a Japanese rally star Neuville having a close call at Colin's Crest Ford had a rally to forget, Ogier fell foul of being snow plough and first car on the road Evans hit an object early on and puctured No.3 Ford of Suninen was highest placed of the three Neuvile made the most of things to take the win and the championship lead Final positions: 1 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai 2h52m13.1s 2 Craig Breen, S.Martin Citroen 19.8s 3 Andreas Mikkelsen, A.Jager Hyundai 28.3s 4 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Toyota 45.8s 5 Hayden Paddon, S.Marshall Hyundai 54.4s 6 Mads Ostberg, T.Eriksen Citroen 1m15.3s 7 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota 2m04.9s 8 Teemu Suninen, M.Markkula M-Sport Ford 2m52.2s 9 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Toyota 3m44.4s 10 Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt M-Sport Ford 5m27.4s
Mexico 2018 - The return of the old master Loeb was almost on the pace straight away It was another old stager who initially took the lead, Dani Sordo is on a limited WRC schedule for 2018 Neuville Lappi Citroen team exchange notes Suninen was again out in the third M-Sport Ford Mikkelsen Meeke was unhappy with his own performance Loeb took the lead, a sensational return, although helped slightly by his later starting position on the road, unfortunately it was short lived, he had a puncture, losing over 2 minutes, the dream return was over Toyota were having a miserable weekend, Mexico is always high on attrition. Tanak There are always winners when the attrition rate is so high, Gus Greensmith from England took a brilliant 9th position overall in this M-Sport WRC2 car Sordo was still on it! But the current master Ogier was judging things to perfection, taking another win Final result: 1. Sebastien Ogier FRA M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC 17 3hr 25m 03.1s 2. Dani Sordo ESP Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +1m 13.6s 3. Kris Meeke GBR Citroen C3 Abu Dhabi WRC +1m 29.2s 4. Andreas Mikkelsen NOR Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +1m 48.4s 5. Sebastien Loeb FRA Citroen C3 Abu Dhabi WRC +2m 34.6s 6. Thierry Neuville BEL Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +9m 13.0s 7. Pontus Tidemand SWE Skoda Fabia R5 +10m 34.7s 8. Jari-Matti Latvala FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +15m 47.1s 9. Gus Greensmith GBR Ford Fiesta R5 +17m 19.3s 10. Pedro Heller CHI Ford Fiesta R5 +24m 28.1s
Corsica 2018 - The (2nd) return of Loeb... ...It didn't last long, despite being second fastest in the first stage, he made a small error of stage 2 It turned out to be one of those ditches that are impossible to get out of It was game over, Loeb would be allowed to restart the following day, but with a huge time penalty Meanwhile, business as usual, Ogier had built up a lead of over 30 seconds by the end of stage 3 Neuville was in second, but admitted he was unable to match Ogier Meeke doing a cut Tanak Things didn't go so well for teammate Latvala
Loeb, back out entertaining the French crowds Evans was with his new (temporary) co driver Phil Mills. No time to enjoy the view! Bryan Bouffier in the no.3 Ford Lappi This is what a Michelin Man really looks like! Ogier, with French Clutter Meeke had made his way up to second. (I must take a holiday in Corsica sometime) It ended badly for Meeke, when co driver Paul Nagle called a pacenote wrongly That moment when it's all about to go wrong: WRC2 winner Jan Kopecky Second in WRC2 was the all new Citroen C5 driven by Yoann Bonato No sign of a return to servicing from the back of a van in a lay-by then! Ogier is still the man to beat Final result: 1 Sebastien Ogier M-Sport Ford 3h26m52.7s 2 Ott Tanak Toyota 36.1s 3 Thierry Neuville Hyundai 1m07.5s 4 Dani Sordo Hyundai 2m02.6s 5 Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford 2m06.1s 6 Esapekka Lappi Toyota 2m33.5s 7 Andreas Mikkelsen Hyundai 2m43.4s 8 Jan Kopecky Skoda 10m34.8s (WRC2) 9 Kris Meeke Citroen 10m40.5s 10 Yoann Bonato Citroen 12m26.0s (WRC2)
Rally Argentina Neuville Fans! Breen Meeke enjoying some fine local fayre Ogier Tanak Breen & Meeke doing the tourist thing Spectacular stages Teenage sensation Kalle Rovanpera was leading WRC2... ...until he had a big off! Teammate Pontus Tidemand was happy to take WRC2 honours instead Britain's Gus Greensmith was second in WRC2, still only 21 and not many events under his belt, will be interesting to see if he can make a step up to a works team eventually Tanak - Flat out and unstoppable, his first win for Toyota Final result: 1. Ott Tanak EST Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing 3hr 43m 28.9s 2. Thierry Neuville BEL Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +37.7s 3. Dani Sordo ESP Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +1m 15.7s 4. Sebastien Ogier FRA M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC 17 +1m 58.6s 5. Andreas Mikkelsen NOR Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +2m 02.6s 6. Elfyn Evans GBR M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC 17 +3m 06.3s 7. Kris Meeke GBR Citroen C3 Abu Dhabi WRC +3m 25.7s 8. Esapekka Lappi FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +4m 32.6s 9. Teemu Suninen FIN M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC 17 +5m 38.6s 10. Pontus Tidemand SWE Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5 +12m 15.8s 11. Ole Christian Veiby NOR Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5 +18m 06.1s 12. Gus Greensmith GBR Ford Fiesta R5 +19m 54.9s Championship points: 1 Sébastien OGIER 100 2 Thierry NEUVILLE 90 3 Ott TÄNAK 72 4 Andreas MIKKELSEN 54 5 Dani SORDO 45 6 Kris MEEKE 43 7 Esapekka LAPPI 40 8 Jari-Matti LATVALA 31 9 Elfyn EVANS 26 10 Craig BREEN 20
2018 Rally Portugal Championship leader Ogier But this wasn't going to be the Frenchman's weekend, out of the event, nil points. Even the best make mistakes. Paddon led briefly... ...until this off Rallying remains a masochistic sport! Tanak was flying As was Meeke Evans was finally having a decent run Safe spectating for some! Another WRC2 win for Tidemand Meeke, flat out But it all ended in disaster for Meeke after rolling into the trees Driver and co driver were lucky to escape unhurt Despite Ogier's demise, M-Sport Ford had quite a good rally, Suninen taking his first ever podium Evans took second place The winner and new championship leader Thierry Neuville Final results: 1. Thierry Neuville BEL Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3hr 49m 46.6s 2. Elfyn Evans GBR M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC 17 +40.0s 3. Teemu Suninen FIN M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC 17 +47.3s 4. Esapekka Lappi FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +54.7s 5. Dani Sordo ESP Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +1m 00.9s 6. Mads Ostberg NOR Citroen C3 WRC +3m 33.5s 7. Craig Breen IRE Citroen C3 Abu Dhabi WRC +5m 23.0s 8. Pontus Tidemand SWE Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5 +14m 10.8s 9. Lukasz Pieniazek POL Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5 +16m 17.3s 10. Stephane Lefebvre FRA Citroen C3 R5 +16m 34.3s
Just a few days after Rally Portugal, the news broke that Meeke had been dropped by Citroen, is this the end of his career? https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/meeke-dropped-citroen-safety-crashes-1041248/?s=1
