World Rally News

The 45 remaining cars left Lloret de Mar this morning for the final six speed tests over similar territory to yesterday's leg.

SS 18 - Viladrau 2 (35.18 kms): Solberg fastest through SS18; Panizzi second; Burns third; Gronholm fourth; Rovanpera fifth; Bugalski sixth; Colin McRae 12th; Sola wins the JWRC category; Panizzi wins the overall rally by 37.3 secs.

Gilles Panizzi walked away with his second victory of the year this weekend thanks to a masterful display in the mountains of Catalunya.

Ford Rallye Sport maintained its record of scoring points on each round of the FIA World Rally Championship after battling performances by Colin McRae and Nicky Grist and team-mates Markko Martin and Michael Park on Spain's Catalunya Rally.

Regular FIA World Rally Championship contender and Peugeot Sport driver Harri Rovanpera will contest the 2002 Corona Rally Mexico in a works-supported 206 World Rally Car.

Tomasz Kuchar and Maciej Szczepaniak, who escaped a horrific road accident Wednesday, will not be starting the Rally Catalunya for the Hyundai Castrol World Rally Team - upon medical advice.

Virtual Spectator today announced the launch of its internet-based software package set to transform the way World Rally Championship [WRC] fans view and interact with the World's most demanding and challenging motorsport.

The Rallye Catalunya is the second outing for the GSE-built MG ZR rally car of Gwyndaf Evans and Chris Patterson. The event started this morning in a hot and sunny Spain, and immediately hit problems as the first stage was cancelled due to the large numbers of spectators near the start.

Britain's top female rally driver, Natalie Barratt, is preparing for her World Championship debut in a works-prepared Hyundai Accent WRC this week.

Hyundai Castrol World Rally Team's third pairing of Thomas Kuchar and Maciej Szczepaniak were taken to hospital after a Rally Catalunya recce accident.

Ford Rallye Sport has confirmed that Carlos Sainz will be partnered by Marc Marti for the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Spain's Catalunya Rally (21-24 March).

Miguel Campos and Carlos Magalh?es, the Portuguese duo at the wheel of the Peugeot 206 WRC, will represent the Portuguese colours during the Catalunya Rally/Costa Brava - the fourth event of the World Rally Championship 2002.

Carlos Sainz's co-driver Luis Moya will miss rally practice today [Tuesday] and tomorrow [Wednesday] following an accident yesterday testing for this weekend's Catalunya Rally, the fourth round of the World Rally Championship.

Scotland's Colin McRae is prepared to amputate his little finger rather than give up the fight for his second World Rally Championship title. McRae severely damaged the digit on his left hand when he crashed out of the Corsican event on the penultimate stage on Sunday 10th March.

Peugeot followed up its recent Swedish one-two with a hat trick on the Tour of Corsica. With the World Championship poised to continue this weekend on the roads of Catalonia, Corrado Provera [Team Director] looks back at his team's historic exploit on the Mediterranean island.

In addition to being a reasonably rare feat in world class rallying, Peugeot's monopoly of the podium in Corsica was a dream come true for the French manufacturer.

The MG ZR EX258 returns to the rally stage next weekend when it contests the second round of the new FIA Junior World Rally Championship on the 38th Rally Catalunya.

The world of motorsport is still by and large an environment controlled by and competed in by men. But there is one motorsport discipline where women, although rare, are holding their own at the very top competitive level.

Changes to the 2002 Telstra Rally Australia's route and itinerary are expected to make the event even more "user friendly", organisers announced today. The key changes are:

After yesterday's rain and fog, clear blue skies returned over the Mediterranean island of Corsica as the 43 remaining competitors began the third and final leg of the Tour de Corse, third round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

The penultimate stage of the Rallye de France - Tour de Corse [SS15] has been stopped and cancelled after Colin McRae's Ford Focus RS WRC went off the road. McRae is believed to have been 5 kilometres into the stage, which is 24.21 kilometres in length when the incident occurred.

Peugeot 206 WRCs have scored an amazing clean sweep of the podium positions on the Tour de Corse, the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship which finished in Corsica this afternoon.

There was further disappointment for Skoda Motorsport during the final day of the Rally of Corsica, with the most experienced driver on the team, Kenneth Eriksson retiring at the start of stage 14.

The Skoda Motorsport World Rally team has continued to show a consistent performance over the second day of the third event of the World Rally Championship, the Rally of Corsica.