Day 1: Loeb leads
Newly-crowned world rally champion Sebastien Loeb ended the opening day of the Catalunya Rally on top - but only just. The Citroen star is just 2s ahead of Ford's Markko Martin after a day-long battle for the lead that also included Francois Duval in the second Focus
Having won the drivers and manufacturers' championships two weeks ago in Corsica, Loeb and his Citroen team have been able to race without fear of losing points and thus are giving the Fords (superfast on asphalt) a run for their money in Spain.
Nevertheless it's been close and in this afternoon's three stages the trio took a stage win apiece. Duval however has ruined his chances of a maiden win after knocking off a wheel in the final stage of the day, the 22km Gombren SS6, and taking himself out of the event.
That stage was topped by Rallye de France winner Martin, who not only closed to two seconds off the lead, but also ensured that he has a 25s cushion over third-placed Marcus Gronholm in the first of the works Peugeot 307s.
Retiring hero Carlos Sainz is fourth in the second Citroen, but he is already 46s behind his team-mate Loeb, and without trouble hitting those in front of him, already looks unlikely to win his final home event as a fully-fledged WRC driver.
Petter Solberg is a steady fifth in his Subaru Impreza. The Norweigen is not satisfied with his asphalt pace, and admits that his car, on Pirelli tyres, is not suited to the shiny smooth Spanish roads. Solberg ended the day 1m16s off the leader.
Duval, having taken three stage wins today, will be kicking himself. Of the two Ford drivers he was the one most likely to end the first leg of the rally with the overnight lead. The Belgian did make it to the end of the stage, but his wheel-destroying incident has caused too much damage, and he has been retired from the rally.
The remarkable Stephane Sarrazin is once again well among the ranks of factory drivers in his French, privately-run, Subaru. The Frenchman is seventh overall, less than 30s behind the leading factory Impreza.
Daniel Sola is now the top Mitsubishi driver in eighth, after his established asphalt-specialist team-mate Gilles Panizzi plummeted down the order having selected the wrong tyre compound after the lunchtime service.
Supercars team reveals coin toss chassis allocation
Supercars squad Team 18 used a combination of a coin toss and a ping pong ball lottery to allocate its new chassis to drivers Scott Pye and Mark Winterbottom.
HPD boss "amazed" by GTP reliability on debut at Daytona 24 Hours
The boss of Honda Performance Developments has expressed his amazement at the high levels of reliability demonstrated by the all-new GTP prototypes in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours.
Is AI ready to take over Formula 1 strategy?
The viral success of ChatGPT since its launch has lifted interest surrounding Artificial Intelligence to new heights.
Why WTR Acura lacked pace to beat MSR in Daytona 24 showdown
Filipe Albuquerque admits that he knew it would be a tall order for Wayne Taylor Racing to overcome sister Acura squad Meyer Shank Racing in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours.
How fired-up Ogier became the WRC's ultimate Monte master
He may only be contesting a part-time campaign in the World Rally Championship these days, but Sebastien Ogier underlined that he's lost none of his speed in the 2023 season opener. Storming to yet another victory on the Monte Carlo Rally, the eight-time world champion rewrote the history books again as Toyota served notice of its intentions with a crushing 1-2
How Lancia pulled off its famous Monte Carlo giantkilling
Audi should have been invincible in the snowy conditions that typically greeted the World Rally Championship paddock in Monte Carlo. But unexpectedly warm weather for the 1983 season opener, combined with some left-field thinking from the Lancia crew turned the tables. Forty years on, team boss Cesare Fiorio reflects on a smash and grab
Why M-Sport has pinned all its efforts on a WRC reunion
M-Sport had a disastrous 2022 with its Rally1 Ford Pumas following Sebastien Loeb’s first-time-out win on the Monte. But now things are looking up with 2019 world champion Ott Tanak leading its attack, and the Cumbrian operation has optimism that it can challenge for a first title since Sebastien Ogier's departure at the end of 2018
The contenders seeking to take Rovanpera's WRC crown
As Kalle Rovanpera begins his World Rally Championship title defence in Monte Carlo, the Finn knows he has a target on his back. But who is best placed to knock the Toyota ace off his perch?
Why Rovanpera is anticipating a fight to defend his WRC title
Question: what could be harder than becoming the youngest-ever World Rally champion? Answer: becoming the youngest-ever two-time World Rally champion. That's quite the challenge facing Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera in 2022, particularly against rejuvenated opposition in the second year of the WRC's hybrid regulations
From F1 to WRC: Why Hyundai's new boss could be an inspired signing
OPINION: New Hyundai WRC team boss Cyril Abiteboul admits he’s got a lot to learn as he leads the marque's efforts to dethrone Toyota. But could his Formula 1 experience and evident strengths mean he turns out to be an inspired choice?
The ultimate rally car project the WRC is glad COVID killed
Toyota was unstoppable in the 2021 World Rally Championship, with an excellent 75% strike rate from 12 rallies. But in a scary proposition for its rivals, the Japanese marque had built a car for the final year of the previous regulations set which it believes was much faster and could feasibly have crushed the opposition completely. Here the story of its mothballed world-beater
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The season just gone was a memorable one for many of our staff writers, who are fortunate enough to cover motorsport around the world. Here are our picks of the best (and in some cases, most eventful) from 2022
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.