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It is only fitting that one of the oldest World Rallies in existence, The Monte Carlo Rallye will signify the beginning of a new chapter in the World Rallying history books.
On Thursday 20th January at the Casino Square in Monaco, a new generation of Hybrid Rally1 cars will line up at the ceremonial start ahead of the opening round of the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship season.
Making its return to the FIA World Rally Championship and closing the season for the second year running (after a forfeiting Rally Japan); the ACI Rally Monza signified the final outing for the outgoing generation of World Rally Cars before the switch is made to Hybrid next year.
inal event in which last year saw Frenchman Sébastien Ogier clinch his 7th World title after snatching the Championship away from his Welsh teammate Elfyn Evans; would once again also deliver one last battle for the 2021 title between the pair of Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers.
After a two year, COVID enforced absence from the FIA World Rally Championship; The RACC Rally Catalunya De Espana made a welcomed return for round 11 of the 2021 season. For an event that first joined the WRC in 1991 and relocated to Salou in 2002, after many years of being a mixed surface event; the penultimate round of the seasons saw a return to an entirely Asphalt event for the first time since 2009.
With 17 fast, flowing, super-smooth tarmac stages that covered 280km, the event got underway on Thursday morning with a short 4.3km shakedown test stage over part of the Riudecanyes stage. Here is where the current championship leader Sébastien Ogier posted the fastest time.
Toyotas Elfyn Evans arrived at the final day of Rally Finland 2021 with a 9.1 second lead over Hyundais Ott Tänak. After a dominant performance on Saturday morning, Welshman Evans then came under pressure in the afternoon from the surging Estonian but held on to his lead heading into the final morning of the rally.
All Evans had to do is keep his nerve and make it through the final 45km and 4 stages of the rally.
The second day of Rally Finland consisted of 9 stages covering 152km of competitive action. Overnight rally leader Craig Breen began the day with a 2.8 second lead over his Hyundai teammate Ott Tänak.
However, over the course of the morning, there was a swing in the balance of performance, with Toyotas Elfyn Evans seemingly finding an immense amount of both speed and confidence overnight.
The FIA World Rally Championships arrived in Jyväskylä, Finland for Round 10 of the 2021 season. Affectionately known by rally fans worldwide as “The Grand Prix On Gravel”, Rally Finland is a high-speed blast through the Finnish countryside and always delivers what the fans and drivers want.
Normally run in summer and the rally that typical restarts the Championship after its mid-season break, this year’s event has relocated to a later autumn date, which in itself brings different conditions to the norm, but that same intense, flat out, full throttle, high-speed, adrenaline-filled challenge still remains.
On the final day of the Acropolis Rally Greece 2021, the Greek Gods sent rain. The long-awaited return of this iconic rally had certainly delivered unexpected conditions, couple this with significant improvements to the roads used on the event; made for an entirely different rally to what it has been synonymous with in the past.
Therefore I don’t think one should compare today’s event to the rough, tough and dusty rally, that the drivers of the past had to endure, but it was certainly a welcome return to the World Championship.
The second full day of the Acropolis rally began with just 3.8 seconds separating the top 3, Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä was leading Ott Tänak with Sébastien Ogier close behind in third.
The opening test of the day, SS7 Pavliani was 24km long but the early morning conditions made for a moist surface and some likened the stage to perhaps more like Rally Chile rather than Greece. Rovanperä opened up the morning by beating Tänak by 5.6 seconds to take his first stage win of the day.
After an 8 year absence, the Acropolis Rally Greece also known as “The Rally Of The Gods” has returned to the FIA World Rally Championships for the 9th round of the 2021 season.
First held in 1953, The Acropolis was one of the original founding members of the WRC back in 1973. This iconic rally last ran as part of the World Series back in 2013, where current Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Boss Jari-Matti Latvala won in the VW Polo.
It is typically known as a rough, tough, hot and dry gravel rally. However, just days before the rally was due to start, heavy rain hit the stages leaving them not only wet but thick with mud, something one would expect to see on Rally GB.
Unbelievably making its first ever appearance into the FIA World Rally Championship, the Ypres Rally, Belgium hosted round 8 of the 2021 Championship.
Becoming the 35th Nation to hold the highest level of international rallying, Belgium and indeed Ypres is no stranger to rallying. For many years the roads of Belgium have been a playing field for European rallying and the Historic Ypres has been a battlefield not just through two great wars but for motorsport also.
First, held in 1965, the Ypres rally has played its part in the European Rally Championship over the years but finally was given the opportunity to test the worlds best driver on its very own challenging Asphalt roads.