Gravel Notes - Rallying News

The World Rally Championship returned to Croatia this past weekend for Round 4 of the 2024 season and with it, an epic battle between Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville took place, but with errors from both men in the closing stages, Sebastien Ogier came through to take the overall victory.  On this week's Gravel Notes, Tom Howard and Luke Barry break down all the drama, hold a referendum on the controversial points system and the impact it's having on close Rallies like this one. Also, a review of WRC2 and another dominant weekend for Citroen, as well as their favourite quotes and unsung heroes from the weekend! (And check back next week for a special interview with Championship leader, Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe!)

Welcome back to another edition of Gravel Notes and in this episode, hosts Tom Howard and Luke Barry discuss the breaking news that the Ireland Rally attempt for 2025 has sadly been cancelled and whether there's any chance it can be brought back in the future. The pair also preview the 2024 Croatia Rally and there's an extra challenging edition of "Barry's Brain" as Tom tries to stump Luke over his Croatia Rally knowledge! 

Welcome back to the winner's circle Kallie Rovanpera! It was a dominant victory at the 2024 Safari Rally of Kenya as both he and co-driver Jonne Halttunen led a Toyota 1-2 finish with Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston also on the podium. In this edition of Gravel Notes, Tom Howard and Luke Barry break down the heavy attrition rate amongst the regulars, another tough rally for Hyundai as their struggles continue, more on the sport's potentially hybrid-less future, and how an upset stomach brought back bad memories for one of the co-hosts in the Quote of the Rally!

On a special edition of the Gravel Notes podcast, Tom Howard and Luke Barry are joined by the latest driver to step on the WRC's podium M-Sport's own Adrien Fourmaux as they discuss the young French man's career, his first podium in Sweden, how he came back to the WRC1 after a tough 2022 season, as well as his thoughts going into the Safari Rally.

The world motorsport governing body has shared its key objectives for the future of the WRC which was presented at the World Motor Sport Council. Out are Hybrid engines and its place a more cost-effective future. But what does a cost effective future mean? To answer that Tom Howard is joined by Luke Barry as they analyse this radical overhaul for the WRC. 

Rally Sweden proved to a rally of attrition as contenders rose and fell, and when all was said and done it was Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi taking an unexpected victory. The popular victory marked Lappi’s first win in six years, six months and 19 days. Tom Howard is joined by Luke Barry as they take a look back at the stories that came out of Rally Sweden.  

Of the back of the Monte Carlo Rally, we are now heading to perhaps one of the fastest Rally on the calendar Rally Sweden. World Champion Kalle Rovanperä makes his return, raising the stakes as he looks to help Toyota get back on track.  Once again Tom Howard is joined by Luke Barry as they preview this weekend's event in Sweden.

Gravel Notes is back and a new era for the WRC is already upon us. With Kalle Rovanperä taking on a part time schedule it is up to the likes of Elfyn Evans to carry the mantle of Toyota in 2024. He has his work cut out for him as the power duo of Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville are looking to capitalize on any weakness.   Tom Howard is joined by Luke Barry as they take us through the opening round of the legendary Rallye Monte-Carlo.  

As Tom Howard returns from an incredible weekend of action in Sweden, he talks to Martyn Lee about the battle for the win and what it says about the championship fight this year.

Welcome back to the Gravel Notes podcast in 2023. We're back for our first WRC preview show and also a wider look ahead to the season ahead. This podcast incorporates a shorter section we also made for the Autosport podcast channel, but we know you're a fan of rally, so then we continued the conversation and heard from three of our title contenders this year - Kalle Rovanperä, Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville.

The World Rally Championship heads to Japan this weekend for the final round of 2022 with nothing but pride to race for, with both championships already decided.  The 10-year wait for WRC to return to Japan in 2020 was ultimately delayed as the event became a casualty of the pandemic, and the sense of anticipation is even higher now amongst the passionate local fans cheering on Toyota. This weekend the Gravel Notes podcast is in to Japan with Autosport’s Tom Howard as the previous gravel roads of Japan make way for 19 new twisty tarmac stages which will prove one of the toughest challenges of the year. On a new edition of the podcast, Tom previews the weekend action following Thursday’s shakedown and first stage, which saw Sebastien Ogier narrowly beat M-Sport’s Craig Breen by just 0.1 seconds, with Hyundai’s Ott Tanak another tenth of a second behind. Tom also talks about WRC’s silly season with Esapekka Lappi expected to join Hyundai to replace Tanak, with the Estonian facing a year on the side-lines without a drive in 2023. There is also still plenty to fight for in WRC2 with a three-way fight for the drivers title.

Tom Howard is back to review the penultimate round of WRC in 2022, but can't talk about anything else first but Ott Tänak's decision to leave Hyundai at the end of the year. But does it mean he'll leave the sport itself?  Tom also talks about how Toyota exerted their strength to win another team title and why all teams need to be looking for the next generation of rally stars. Martyn Lee is your host.

WRC returned for the Repco Rally New Zealand after a ten-year hiatus to see a new world champion crowned. Kalle Rovanperä could have settled for a cautious points finish to secure his first title, but instead delivered his trademark 'maximum attack' on the wet and muddy gravel roads around Auckland. Rovanperä also takes the title of being the youngest world champion in the history of WRC taking that benchmark from the late Colin McRae.  The penultimate day of the event saw Rovanperä celebrate his 22nd birthday and, just 24 hours later, bring home his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car home for a spectacular powerstage victory. Tom Howard joins Martyn Lee on the podcast to review the weekend and look at how 'King Kalle' brought the championship back to Finland for the first time in 20 years.

Martyn Lee is joined by TOM HOWARD to analyse a fairy tale weekend for Hyundai, as other teams fell by the wayside, they picked up a 1-2-3 result for the first time in history. What makes this story more remarkable is from how far back Hyundai came in 2022, with a Rally1 challenger developed and built far too late.  From the lows of Monte Carlo and Kenya, the team were forced to build reliability whilst watching rivals run away with an early lead. However, a controversial decision to impose team order to 'bring the cars home' on Sunday called off a duel between Neuville and Tänak, much to the annoyance of the Estonian former champ and his supporters.

Tom Howard and Michael Haffenden are back from WRC Ypres Rally Belgium where Ott Tänak secured his second rally win on the bounce, as a high rate of attrition saw multiple crashes. 

Last weekend witnessed a truly incredible Rally Finland with WRC's best battling it out for the win. Today on Gravel Notes with Tom Howard he talks to all three podium teams - Tanak, Rovanpera and Lappi. We also hear how Hyundai ended Toyota's winning streak in Finland, and how the land of 1000 lakes was able to keep Lappi's car topped up with water after a massive shunt. Stick around to the end of the podcast because Tom talks about an experience no mere mortal has any business doing - co-driving a top tier rally car alongside one of the worlds best drivers, as he calls the pace notes over 6 kilometres for Takamoto Katsuta in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car.

Kalle Rovanpera clinched a fifth win from seven World Rally Championship rounds with a masterclass display to defeat Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans at Rally Estonia. The WRC championship leader produced yet another stunning performance, despite starting first on the road in changeable weather conditions, to beat Evans by 1m00.9s on Estonia’s fast gravel roads.  Martyn Lee is joined by Tom Howard to discuss all the action, and we hear from the top three of Rovanpera, Evans and Tanak.

Round 7 of the World Rally Championship in Estonia kicks off tomorrow just after 6:30pm UK, and Martyn Lee is joined by Tom Howard to preview the action. Safari Rally Kenya was a car-breaker with harsh conditions hurting many teams and drivers, whilst 2022's sensation Kalle Rovanpera dominated from first on the road. Can home hero Ott Tanak fight back at an event he has won multiple times, and will Toyota's upgrade package be another blow for the teams playing catch up? On the podcast today, Tom is joined by M-Sport Team principal Richard Millener, reflecting on Safari and looking to Estonia. We'll hear about their solutions to reliability issues and how he is expecting Craig Breen to deliver in Estonia.  Tom has alsoi spoken with Hyundai Deputy team director Julien Moncet about the parts shortages causing a supply "nightmare".

Kalle Rovanpera enhanced his World Rally Championship title credentials with victory at a gruelling Safari Rally Kenya, as Toyota locked out the top four positions.  Tom Howard is back on the podcast to review a weekend of attrition and superb performances. Martyn Lee is your host.  

Tom Howard is live from Africa as he previews all the action for this weekend's Safari Rally Kenya