It’s a new dawn, a new weekend and a brand, spanking new year – are you feeling good? As a distraction from that recently begrudgingly-bought gym membership, we’ve got the kick-start you need: a healthy dose of motorsport goodness!
We’ve been reliably informed that something called ‘skiing’ is fairly popular at this time of the year. Whatever this snow-based exercise malarkey is all about, we’re pretty sure it isn’t the best cold-weather sport out there. The icy slicing and dicing circus that is the Andros Trophy seems a much better bet if you’re after high-octane winter fun, which will be evidenced in plenty when it returns this weekend for the fourth event of the season at Isola 2000.
Having comprehensively cleaned up in the last few outings, all-round rallycross hero Jean-Baptiste Dubourg is currently top dog in the points. However, as is the way with notoriously competitive motorsport, the Frenchman would be brave to kick back and cruise at this crucial stage of the game, with ex-Formula 1 driver and Le Mans runner-up Franck Lagorce firmly on his tail at the halfway point. Isola’s tough blend of tight bends and long straights stand in the way of Lagorce’s charge, but nothing ever stops a hungry racing driver from putting on quite a show!The equatorial climate of Africa may be a far cry from the snowy slopes of Alpine France, but the racing sure isn’t any less treacherous! Indeed, as the spiritual successor to the infamous Dakar Rally the Africa Eco Race provides those brave, skilled and bonkers enough to compete with a challenge of quite frankly epic proportions. Drivers have traversed a vast swathe of beautiful yet demanding terrain on the way to the motorsport Mecca of Dakar, and this weekend sees them tackle the home stretch with stages 11 and 12. Catch our highlights of the action this weekend!Thanks to a top-drawer Maserati Trophy season in 2015, Italy has never sounded or looked so good. With an excellent grid of snarling V8 GT Trofeo racers and a roster of highly skilled pilots to thrash them, this one-make championship provides all the automotive goodness a bona fide petrolhead could ever ask for. As such, you won’t be surprised to learn that we’ve put together a review show this weekend to share all the best bits and whet your appetite for the coming year!
There’s also some hard-core dirt bike action in the form of the FIM Super Enduro World Championship, which tore up the SachsenArena in Riesa, Germany, last weekend for the campaign’s second round. Anglo-American competition is at an all time high at the moment with rapid yank Cody Webb and plucky Brit Jonny Walker separated by a hairline gap in the standings, so we reckon that Germany will throw up a show to give even December’s season-opening spectacular a run for its money!
Your high-speed workout certainly wouldn’t be complete without some cracking coverage of the Roof of Africa enduro as well as our Special Stage Rally review. Gyms are so last year, anyway.
Saturday 9th January11:35 – Roof of Africa highlights12:40 – FIM Super Enduro World Championship highlights, Rd 2, Germany20:00 – Special Stage Rally review21:35 – The Winter Trial highlights23:05 – Africa Eco Race, Stage 11, Akjoujt/Saint Louis
Sunday 10th January12:10 – Delayed-as-live Andros Trophy, Rd 4, Isola 200018:55 – Maserati Trophy best-of23:05 – Africa Eco Race, Stage 12, Saint Louis/Lac Rose-Dakar
