History is repeating...
History is repeating itself at Lotus. To celebrate 40 years of production at its Norfolk factory, the sportscar manufacturer has resurrected the classic Sprint name.
The World Rally Championship...
The World Rally Championship is set for a shake-up at the end of this season. Not only is the calendar undergoing significant revisions – including the addition of a round in Ireland – but there will be a new points set-up and the contro÷versial ‘Super Rally’ system is to be axed.
Next year’s WRC series will still start on the icy mountain roads above Monte Carlo and conclude in the Welsh forests, but much will change in between. Familiar events in Australia, Cyprus and Turkey have been ditched in favour of rounds in Portugal, Norway and Ireland.
While Portugal makes a welcome return to the calendar, the other rallies are all-new. Thanks to the success of Petter Solberg, rallying has a huge following in Norway. Coming a week after Sweden in mid-February, the new round will provide the WRC teams with back-to-back rallies in snowy Scandinavia.
Likewise, to cut costs Rally Ireland has been given a November date which pairs it with the Rally GB. The sport has long been popular on the Emerald Isle, and organisers have worked hard to achieve WRC status for an event that includes stages in both Eire and Ulster. A delighted John O’Donoghue, Ireland’s Minister of Arts, Sport and Tourism, said: “This is a wonderful success, and all the more so as it’s a cross-border initiative.”
Aside from the new calendar, the Super Rally rules have been axed. These let crews which retired in the first two days re-enter events after fixing their cars, albeit with time penalties. The top eight finishers will still be rewarded using the F1 points system, but the fast÷est three each day also get three, two and one bonus points.