PLANET RALLY

FLAT-OUT WORLD NEWS

The World Motor Sport Council will confirm extra points will be available for WRC powerstages, starting from next January’s Monte Carlo Rally. Instead of just the top three scoring points, the top five will benefit. The fastest time will be rewarded with five (not three) points, dropping down to one for fifth fastest… Gaurav Gill guided his Team MRF Skoda Fabia R5 to a fourth consecutive Asia Pacific Rally Championship success at last weekend’s Rally Hokkaido in Japan. He won the Obihiro-based former WRC round by almost two minutes from his MRF team-mate Fabien Kreim… Martin Prokop returns to the World Rally Championship in Spain next month. This will be the Czech driver’s first WRC round since he received what he felt was an unfair five-minute penalty for breaking a transmission seal on the Rally of Italy in June. Ole Christian Veiby is another interesting Catalan entry, the 20-year-old Norwegian making just his second WRC2 outing of the season in a Skoda Fabia R5, while Irishman Eamonn Boland makes his annual trip to the Costa Daurada in a Ford Fiesta R5… This week’s French round of the World Rally Championship has taken onboard some additional backing other than the regional funding provided from Corsica itself. The event will be known as the Che Guevara Energy Drink Tour de Corse. Some might see a revolutionary’s name attached to the event as quite fitting after a quick look at the route for this week...