Sweden's P-G Andersson is expected to take part in six rounds of the WRC in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Italy, Finland, Germany,France, Spain and Wales Rally GB).

Sébastien Loeb was 11th in last weekend's Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race at Barcelona, Spain. At the race in Monaco in two weeks time, he will be joined on the grid by Sébastien Ogier.

ERC: The 2013 FIA European Rally Championship will now only feature 12 of the originally-scheduled 13 rounds following the removal from the calendar of the San Marino Rally. The decision leaves just three gravel rounds this season.

ERC (SATA Rallye Açores): Robert Kubica (Citroën/Michelin) survived dreadful weather to lead at the end of Day 1, ahead of Jan Kopecky (Skoda, +9.7s), Ricardo Moura (Skoda, +10.5s) and Craig Breen (Peugeot, +11.7s). Bryan Bouffier did not start following the failure of his engine.

After the appointments of Michel Nandan (Team Principal) and Bertrand Vallat (Chef Designer), Hyundai Motorsport has confirmed the recruitments of Stéphane Girard (Engine Manager) and Alain Penasse (Team Manager).

Fafe Rally Sprint (Portugal)... Sébastien Ogier is suffering from flu and will not contest the event. His place will not be taken by Latvala, which means that Andreas Mikkelsen will now be Volkswagen Motorsport's only representative.

WRC (Wales Rally GB)... The last round of the 2013 World Rally Championship will start and finish in Llandudno, North Wales

WRC (Rally de Portugal)... Dennis Kuipers will stand in to replace Juho Hanninen - who has withdrawn for personal reasons - in the Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Yazeed Al-Rahji (Ford Fiesta RRC) is also unable to take part in the event following his recent cross-country rally accident.

WRC... The 33 entries for Rally Argentina include the return of Loeb/Elena in the N°1 Citroën DS3 WRC. Other WRC drivers are Hirvonen, Ostberg, Novikov, Latvala, Ogier, Mikkelsen, Sordo, Neuville, Kosciuszko, Prokop and Oliveira.

After his WRC2 victory in Sweden, Yazeed Al-Rahji was hurt in an accident when his Hummer landed heavily after a dune on the last day of Saudi Arabia's Ha'il International Rally (cross-country rally). Yazeed and his co-driver Alex Winocq were flown to hospital by helicopter for checks, but were found not to have sustained serious injury.

WRC2: The FIA has received 29 entries for the new WRC2 championship which is for four-wheel drive cars only. Entrants include Skoda Motorsport, Proton Motorsport and Qatar M Sport WRT.

ERC: Jan Kopecky (Skoda/Michelin) claimed his third Rally Islas Canarias victory today after early leader Robert Kubica (Citroën DS3 RRC) crashed out on SS10. Kopecky was joined on the podium by Craig Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) and Luis Monzon (Mini RRC).

Might we see Loeb contest the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in a prototype Peugeot 208? Seb: "There have been discussions, but nothing's been decided yet."

Rally Islas Canarias (ERC): Robert Kubica (Citroën DS3 RRC/Michelin) won all the first day's stages to pull out a lead of 1m6.7s over Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000). Craig Breen (3rd, Peugeot 207 S2000) is a further 44s adrift...

Swedish youngster Pontus Tidemand is to drive a Volkswagen Scirocco in the Swedish Rallycross Championship. The German make is said to be interested in an involvement in the discipline.

Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen will both drive a VW Polo R WRC on the Fafe Rally Sprint (April 6) as part of their build-up to the Rally de Portugal.

WRC: the 2013 Rally de Portugal has received 71 entries, including 13 WRC runners, 21 crews in the WRC2 class, 8 in WRC3 and 10 in the Junior World Championship. The list includes Mikkelsen (N°9 Polo R WRC), Hanninen (N°15 Ford Fiesta WRC), Esapekka Lappi (N°31 Skoda Fabia), Robert Kubica (N°74 Citroën DS3 RRC ) and Elfyn Evans (N°75 Ford Fiesta RRC).

Robert Kubica will contest seven rounds of the WRC2 (Portugal, Greece, Sardinia, Finland, Germany, France and Spain), plus four ERC events (Canary Islands, Açores, Corsica, Poland) in a Citroën DS3 RRC/Michelin run by PH'Sport. His co-driver will be fellow-Pole Maciek Baran.

The Legend Boucles de Spa (Mk2 Ford Escort) was won by François Duval. Mikko Hirvonen (petrol leak and small fire), Yves Matton (gearbox), André Lotterer (petrol leak), Thierry Neuville (clutch) and Bruno Thiry (power steering) all suffered mechanical trouble.

ERC: The date of Rally Poland has been brought forward two weeks to September 13-15, while Croatia Rally's slot has switched from early-June to September 26-28. With the Barum Rally Zlin due to take place on August 30-September 1, it's going to be a busy month for the FIA European Rally Championship.

Nasser Al-Attiyah is poorly and has had to withdraw his entry for Sweden. His place in the Qatar-M Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC will be taken by Matthew Wilson who will be co-driven by Giovanni Bernacchini.

ERC - Rally Liepaja-Ventspils: victory for Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta RRC) ahead of Peugeot 207 S2000/Michelin drivers Craig Breen (+31s) and François Delecour (+2m47.5s). The top five was rounded off by Jan Cerny (Skoda Fabia S2000) and Raimund Kiesel (Mini S2000).

ERC - Rally Liepaja-Ventspils: Finland's Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta RRC) has eased into the lead, 12.1s clear of Craig Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000). Alexey Lukyanuk (Mitsubishi) has taken third place from François Delecour (Peugeot 207 S2000). There are six more stages to come on Sunday.

ERC: with three stages completed, the 2012 SWRC champion Craig Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000/Michelin) leads the Rally Liepaja-Ventspils ahead of Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta RRC, +6.4s) and François Delecour (Peugeot 207 S2000, +12.1s).

After a long career in world class rallying which earned him a world title, Petter Solberg will turn his attention to rallycross this year. He will campaign a Citroën DS3 in the European Chapionship, plus the Global Rallycross series and the USA's X-Games.

The Qatar International Rally was won by Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford Fiesta RRC) ahead of Khalid Al-Qassimi (Citroën DS3 RRC). Revenge in Sweden?

WRC: Sébastien Loeb (Citroen-Michelin) claims his 7th success at Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Dakar: Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini-Michelin) claims his 11th victory

Dakar. The stewards have accepted that the GPS systems of Sainz and Al-Attiyah suffered a malfunction during Leg 2 and have deleted the time they spent triggering the WayPoint which gaved them trouble. Al-Attiyah is now sixth (+10m25s) and Sainz is 10th (+16m21s).

84 entries for the 2013 Rallye Monte-Carlo, including Sordo, Bouffier, Hirvonen and Loeb for Citroën (DS3 WRC), Ostberg, Novikov, Neuville, Hanninen, Maurin and Prokop for Ford (Fiesta RS WRC), Kosciuszko (Mini WRC), Latvala and Ogier for VW (Polo R WRC), and Wiegand and Lappi for Skoda (Fabia S2000).

The 2013 ADAC Rallye Deutschland will start in the historic centre of Cologne on August 22. On their way to Trier, competitors will contest two stages, including one after nightfall. The finish will be held in front of the Porta Nigra monument in Trier on August 25.

It wasn't really a secret, but it's now official: Jari-Matti Latvala has signed a deal with Volkswagen Motorsport for 2013. He will team up with Frenchman Sébastien Ogier.

Five days after securing the 2012 WRC title at the recent Rallye de France Alsace, Sébastien Loeb will visit MICHELIN's stand at the Paris Motor Show on Friday, October 12.

Citroën Racing has announced a partnership deal with Abu Dhabi for 2013. Mikko Hirvonen will contest every round of the world championship but Sébastien Loeb will only take part in selected events. The Frenchman would like to compete in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) with Citroën in 2014 or 2015.

After contesting France's round of the WRC, Ireland's Craig Breen (SWRC winner in Wales) will take part in the Rallye Sanremo driving a SaintéLoc-run Peugeot 207 S2000. He was testing on Monday and Tuesday.

Thierry Neuville will replace Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Qatar WRT DS3 WRC in Sardinia. The Qatari will be busy testing his buggy as part of his preparations for the 2013 Dakar.

Volkswagen Motorsport is in Finland testing with Sébastien Ogier, while Citroën Racing was in France's Vosges Mountains yesterday with Mikko Hirvonen. Today, French youngster Sébastien Chardonnet is getting his first drive in the DS3 WRC run by PH Sport.

We have found this video of Colin McRae on the 2001 Network Q Rally of GB on his way to the fastest time on SS2 (Gymno), driving a Ford Focus WRC. It was the Scot's last fastest stage time on Rally GB, at an average speed of 124kph ! http://youtu.be/eTUviCzqovw

Mikko Hirvonen (DS3 WRC), Mads Ostberg (Fiesta WRC), Sébastien Chardonnet (DS3 WRC) and Stéphane Consani (Mini WRC) will contest this weekend's Rallye National Vosgien in eastern France to prepare for the Rallye de France.

A great day for Ford/M-Sport and Michelin with two cars on top at Wales Rally GB (Latvala, Solberg) and another in front at Prime Yalta Rally (Pajunen)

Romain Dumas, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2010, will make his WRC debut at the Rallye de France driving a Mini WRC prepared by the French specialist Automeca.

Happy birthdays to Ford WRT's co-drivers Mikka Anttila, who is 40 today, and Chris Patterson, who was 44 on Thursday.

The co-driver for Russia's Evgeny Novikov at Rally GB will be Ilka Minor who has previously navigated for Stohl and Henning Solberg.

Frenchman Yvan Muller, the WTCC champion, will contest the Rallye de France for the third time. He will drive a Prodrive-prepared Mini John Cooper Works WRC.

After a one-off outing with Qatar World Rally Team in Finland, Chris Atkinson has been named to replace Armindo Araujo at Team Mini Portugal for Rallye Deutschland.

The new TMG-developed Toyota Yaris R1A will serve as 'zero car' at next week's Rallye Deutschland. It will be driven by Isolde Holdereid.

We are sad to learn of the death of former Citroën factory driver Philippe Bugalski at the age of 49. Best-of-RallyLive extends its condolences to his family and many friends.

There is talk of Red Bull Media House being named as promoter of the World Rally Championship.

Evgeny Novikov's co-driver Denis Giraudet suffered a vertebral fracture (L4) during Rally Finland. He underwent surgery this morning and will not take part in Rallye Deutschland.

Esapekka Lappi has entered Rallye Deutschland in a Citroën C2. It will be his second rally on asphalt. The 21-year old Finnish youngster is rumoured to have signed a contract with Skoda.

The 2011 Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, who drives a Citroën in the WRC, won a bronze medal in the skeet shooting competition at the London Olympics today. It is the first medal for Qatar.

The Lotus Exige R-GT, the first car built to the FIA's R-GT regulations, has just been homologated. Portugal's Bernardo Sousa will drive one of these cars at this weekend's Rally Vinho da Madeira, a round of the European Championship.

Norway's Mads Ostberg is in hospital after hurting his back in a crash during shakedown ahead of Rally Bohemia.

Giandomenico Basso (Ford Fiesta S2000) has won Rally San Marino. He beat Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda/Michelin) by 2.8 seconds.

A week after his crash in practice for the X Games, Marcus Grönholm has been discharged from hospital in Los Angeles.

Sergio Pininfarina, founder of the company of the same name, has died at the age of 85. A specialist in automotive design and coachbuilding, Pininfarina worked with a long list of manufacturers, including Ferrari and Peugeot. He contributed to the development of the Lancia 037 and Talbot Samba.

After a big crash during practice for last weekend's X Games, Marcus Grönholm is still in hospital in Los Angeles. A bulletin received this morning states that the two-time world rally champion's condition has improved but that he is still under observation. Best-of-RallyLive wishes him a speedy recovery.

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have finalised a production and distribution services agreement for the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship season. Under the contract, the EBU's production subsidiary EPC (Eurovision Production Coordination) will continue to film and produce the season's programming entirely in HD, while the EBU will provide distribution services to a global audience.

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