WRC – Neuville wins Central European Rally, Rovanperä and Halttunen clinch 2023 title

WRC – Neuville wins Central European Rally, Rovanperä and Halttunen clinch 2023 title

Sport news

Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen have become two-time WRC champions, clinching the title on Sunday by finishing second overall at Central European Rally*. By finishing runner-up to Hyundai rivals Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe at this penultimate round, the Finns ensured they could no longer be caught in the 2023 season.

125’000 spectators watched the action unfold during the last four days along the stages of Austria, Czech Republic and Germany.

Just one year ago, Rovanperä, now 23 years old, made history when he became the youngest WRC champion ever. Today he stands alongside legendary names like Carlos Sainz, Walter Röhrl and Miki Biasion as a double winner.

Entering Central European Rally with a 31-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Elfyn Evans, Rovanperä simply needed to maintain his advantage to claim the crown. When Evans suffered a dramatic crash on Saturday morning, the path to victory was all but assured.

Following a steady start to the season, Rovanperä and Halttunen hit their straps in May by winning Vodafone Rally de Portugal. From that moment on, the pair have only finished outside of the podium twice.

“I am feeling really good,” Rovanperä beamed. “I think this year was, for me personally, more important than last year. The competition was tighter, and we did a really good job. The biggest thank you of course goes to Jonne – he is also the world’s best co-driver. I am going to enjoy this one more than the first one.”

Neuville’s capture of the outright rally victory may have been overshadowed by the champions’ celebrations, but the Belgian’s drive was worthy of high praise.

Driving a Hyundai i20 N, Neuville took control on Saturday morning and headed Rovanperä by 57.6sec to claim his 19th career victory on the slippery asphalt roads across Germany, Austria and Czech Republic.

“OveralL, we did a good job,” Neuville said. “We had good consistency which ultimately paid off. It was a team effort this weekend and we did it, so we can be proud of that.”

Ott Tänak overcame a hydraulic failure on the penultimate day to finish third, almost two minutes back from the frontrunning pace in an M-Sport Ford Puma.

Sébastien Ogier fought back from wheel damage on Friday to claim fourth ahead of his Toyota-driving colleague Takamoto Katsuta. Teemu Suninen, Grégoire Munster and Adrien Fourmaux completed the top 8 ahead of Nicolas Ciamin and Pierre-Louis Loubet,

The championship comes to a close in Asia next month at FORUM8 Rally Japan. The asphalt event is based in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture and takes place from 16-19 November.

*Subject to confirmation of results by the FIA

World Rally Championship

WRCWRC2023 WRC - Central European Rally - 2023 champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTSEASON 2023SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2023WRC01Sunday, October 29, 2023 – 3:56pmSunday, October 29, 2023 – 3:56pm

続きを読む

Bottas: Slow turns and thin air at F1 Mexico GP key to Alfa Romeo promise

Bottas and team-mate Zhou Guanyu both made Q3 and qualified ninth and 10th, putting them in a strong position to score crucial points in the tight battle amongst the four teams at the bottom of the constructors’ championship.The Finn showed good pace throughout the weekend, earning fourth place in FP2 on Friday, and then sailed through the first two parts of qualifying in fifth and seventh.The …Keep reading
続きを読む

FIA originally planned to check only Hamilton and Leclerc planks at F1 US GP

Hamilton and Leclerc were excluded from the result of last weekend’s race in Austin after scrutineering checks discovered that their underfloor planks had worn away by more than the 1mm that is allowed in the rulebook. While there was no dispute that both cars were outside of the regulations, the subsequent emergence that the FIA only checked four cars in total prompted some intrigue about …Keep reading
続きを読む

How Ricciardo showed first glimpse of Red Bull F1 seat claim

After all, his AlphaTauri team currently lies at the bottom of the world championship table, and it had scored just five points all season until Yuki Tsunoda doubled that total with a strong race in Austin, helped by the disqualifications ahead.But really the story in Mexico on Saturday was about Ricciardo himself, and his quest for redemption after being bundled out of McLaren at the end of his …Keep reading
続きを読む

Alonso admits he’s “not doing a good job” with tricky Aston Martin F1 car

Alonso confessed that he is lacking confidence in the AMR23 after uncharacteristically suffering big spins at the high-speed track on both Friday and Saturday.Ultimately, he couldn’t better 13th in qualifying, while his team-mate Lance Stroll was only 18th.“Very tricky,” said the Spaniard when asked by Autosport about what the incidents said about the car. “Yesterday [Friday] at the …Keep reading
続きを読む

Verstappen: F1 qualifying traffic rules “all imperfect”

Verstappen, George Russell and Fernando Alonso were all summoned to explain their actions in the Mexico City pitlane as the pack massed at the end of Q1. All three escaped sanctions for pitlane impeding around the rules requirement to drive to a maximum laptime (or minimum speed) when not on push laps, which has been in place since the 2023 Italian Grand Prix. They were all cleared here in part …Keep reading
続きを読む

F1 Mexico GP future doesn’t depend on “superhero” Perez’s Red Bull fate

In wake of Perez joining the F1 grid, the series returned to Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez following a 12-year hiatus.Perez has always enjoyed patriotic home support, but the Mexican audience’s fervour soared to new heights once the Guadalajara native joined Red Bull and became a regular contender for wins in 2021.But amid his struggles alongside dominant team-mate Max Verstappen, the …Keep reading
続きを読む

F1 Mexico Grand Prix – Start time, starting grid, how to watch, & more

Ferrari secured a shock front row lockout with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as Max Verstappen, who had topped all three practice sessions, ended the decisive Q3 session third fastest for Red Bull.The final classification was subject to a number of post-qualifying investigations, with Verstappen and George Russell plus his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton among …Keep reading
続きを読む

Verstappen, Hamilton escape sanctions for Mexico F1 qualifying incidents

Ahead of the final runs in Q1, Verstappen, Alonso and Russell all backed up other cars while leaving the pitlane in a bid to create a gap and find clear air.All three drivers were summoned by the FIA’s stewards for “unnecessarily impeding” at pit exit, but they decided not to take any further action.The drivers and their team managers successfully argued that their actions were the result of the …Keep reading
続きを読む
さらに投稿を読み込む