SS18: Burns on a charge, Gronholm out
Richard Burns is back on the pace after taking his first stage win on the last day of Rally Argentina, six seconds clear of Colin McRae in third place, but the Subaru star still lies 25 seconds adrift of the Scot's overall lead. Meanwhile the luckless Marcus Gronholm is forced to retire after spinning off the road and burning out his clutch

Gronholm had been running a distant sixth overall, almost four minutes behind the leaders after power steering problems on Saturday. The Finn was on a charge this morning however, and won SS17, but left the road on the first corner of SS18 Chamico and burnt his clutch out while trying to get out of the undergrowth.
The retirement marks yet another no points finish for the defending champion who has amassed only four points in the first five events of this year.
A charging Tommi Makinen set the second fastest time on the 24.60km stage, three seconds behind Burns and the Finn moves up, as expected, past Petter Solberg to take fourth place overall.
Solberg admitted at the service before the stage that he planned to maintain a steady pace and expected the Mitsubishi ace to overtake. In the event the Norwegian was forced to slow anyway with power steering problems on his Impreza WRC and finished eighth.
McRae continued to relax his pace somewhat, safe in the knowledge that he has an almost half a minute lead to nurse him through the final three stages of the event.
Carlos Sainz continued his solid drive with another fourth fastest time and the Spaniard remains a comfortable third behind the charging Brits at the front. Didier Auriol finished fifth in his Peugeot ahead of Freddy Loix in the second Mitsubishi in sixth.
Francois Delecour, who lies seventh overall, lost over half a minute with fly-by-wire throttle problems. The Frenchman was forced to hit the reset button on his Ford Focus, which temporarily solved the glitch, but it returned on the road section and a cable had to be fitted as a replacement.

Mina Clavero Service 1: Spectators crowd McRae
SS19, El Mirador 2: Burns clawing back McRae

Latest news
Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return
He has more starts without a podium than anyone else in Formula 1 world championship history, but Nico Hulkenberg is back for one more shot with Haas. After spending three years on the sidelines, the revitalised German is aiming to prove to his new team what the F1 grid has been missing
Daytona 24, Hour 15: Porsche takes lead amid trouble for MSR Acura
Porsche Penske Motorsport moved to the front of the Daytona 24 Hours in the 15th hour after the erstwhile-leading Meyer Shank Racing Acura developed an oil leak issue.
Vandoorne: Dashboard, steering wheel glitch caused Diriyah FE attack mode penalty
A blank dashboard caused Stoffel Vandoorne's 24-second Diriyah E-Prix penalty, as an electronics glitch on his DS Penske Formula E car meant he couldn't arm attack mode.
Five things we learned from Vasseur's first Ferrari F1 press call
Ferrari has undergone a winter of upheaval ever since it was announced that boss Mattia Binotto was stepping away from the Formula 1 squad.
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.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.