
Dates for your diary: 2012 IRC schedule
The line-up of events that will comprise the 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge schedule.

PODCAST: Listen to Meeke, Wilson and The Stig!
Rallyday 2011 post-event podcast now live featuring Kris Meeke, Matthew Wilson, Harri Rovanpera, David Higgins and Ben Collins – Top Gear’s former Stig. Don’t miss it!

IRC: Wittmann cans Monte run
Sponsor blow forces Franz Wittmann to withdraw his Rallye Monte Carlo entry.

Wittmann keen for IRC return
Franz Wittmann targets a return to the IRC for the 2011 season

IRC: Loix takes Colin McRae trophy
Freddy Loix becomes the second winner of the Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy

REWIND: Ken Block in Mexico
Video looking back on Rally Mexico and Ken Block’s first outing in a Ford Focus RS WRC car.

Ford Fiesta Super 2000 rally car launch
The all-new Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car was unveiled at a launch ceremony at M-Sport’s Cumbrian base in the UK last month. Here’s some footage from that event…

Rally Bulgaria halted by fatality
The World Rally Championship candidate event in Bulgaria was cancelled over the weekend after a fatal accident during the seventh stage. The Peugeot 207 S2000 driver by Swiss driver Brian Lavio went off the road during the stage on Sunday morning and hit a rock on the side of the road. While Lavio was taken to hospital following the incident, Italian co-driver Flavio Gugelmini succumbed to injuries he sustained when the car went off the road. The event, part of the European Rally Championship, was halted following the accident.

Colin McRae charity auction goes live.
Prodrive has announced that it will host an auction of rare and unusual rally memorabilia to raise money for the McRae Vision charities. The items range from one of the last pieces of memorabilia signed by the late Colin McRae to an original Rothmans Rally jacket signed by the competitors in the recent McRae Stages rally, as well as genuine parts from the Subaru World Rally Car. Many of the items have been donated by the McRae family and Colin’s former co-driver Nicky Grist. The auction went live today [October 10] and closes on October 17.

Dakar: Mitsubishi enters four cars again.
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and its motor sport unit, the Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart team has confirmed that it will once again field a four-car line-up on the 31st Dakar Rally. The event, which will switch to fresh territory in 2009 and take competitors through Argentina and Chile from Saturday January 3 until Sunday January 18, 2009, will see the Japanese manufacturer use the new turbo-diesel ‘Racing Lancer’, with Stephane Peterhansel, Hiroshi Masuoka, Luc Alphand and Joan ‘Nani’ Roma all remaining onboard.