FIA World Rally ChampionshipSunny climes and toasty temperatures haven’t exactly been the defining features of the FIA World Rally Championship so far this year. While our favourite top brass dirt drivers certainly set the world alight in Monte-Carlo and Sweden, the third round in scorching Mexico looks set to stoke the championship fire even more.This time out the most skilled racers in the business are faced with vast, challenging swathes of hostile terrain chosen to push man and machine well beyond the limits of mechanical sympathy. Indeed, cars will not only struggle to breathe when charging through undulating mountain passes two and a half kilometres up, but also have to cope with the notoriously soaring heat and scraggly gravel stages. Drivers also need to make sure they master the technique and set-up required for top times on such terrain, as the Central American outing marks the first of six consecutive dirt rounds. If you thought it couldn’t get any tougher for these poor chaps, wait until they encounter the new Guanajuato stage which, at a gigantic 80 km, is the longest to feature in any WRC rally since 1983. With all that in store, it’s safe to say that the likes of Kris Meeke and Sebastien Ogier have quite a few chunky mountains to climb if they’re to set their championship challenges in stone! Catch our highlights from each day and marvel away.
Daily highlights Rd 3, Mexico – Saturday 5 March, Sunday 6 March and Monday 7 March at 09:0024H Series – 12H Mugello
It’s also time for another challenge of equally daunting proportions, folks. Rally drivers may think they have it fairly tricky, but the tough nuts contesting the 24H Series can certainly go toe-to-toe with them, especially with events like this month’s 12H Mugello.Dubai’s curtain raiser kick-started proceedings with a bang back in January, after a record grid of 100 entries went at it hammer and tongs to put on the best show possible. The competitive menagerie of sportscars, prototype GTs and touring cars now head to one of Italy’s most technically demanding circuits, where they need to negotiate a combination of high speed straights, fast corners and frequent gradient changes if they are to successfully get through the relentless round-the-clock slog. If the season-opening Arabian Desert shootout is anything to go by, expect close competition and copious drama from our live coverage!LIVE 24H Series Rd 2, 12H Mugello – Friday 18 March at 12:00 (first half)LIVE 24H Series Rd 2, 12H Mugello – Saturday 19 March at 08:00 (second half)MXGPThis month’s global tour continues when the daddy of all Motocross series, MXGP, returns for the Thai and European rounds of this year’s championship.The 2015 contingent’s trip to South East Asia 12 months ago threw a large spanner in the championship works, with second-placed Clement Desalle and a resurgent Antonio Cairoli comprehensively reshuffling the standings. Europe’s pitched battle very much continued in the same vein, and the ultimate victor in the title scrap looked to be anyone’s guess. Fast-forward to 2016 and the question of who will begin to assert their authority at this early stage looks wide open once more! Does the reigning champion Romain Febvre have what it takes to stave off the charging pack? Only time – and our live and kicking coverage – will tell.LIVE MXGP Rd 2, Thailand – Sunday 6 March at 06:00 (Moto 1) and 09:00 (Moto 2)LIVE MXGP Rd 3, Europe (Netherlands) – Sunday 28 March at 13:00 (Moto 1) and 16:00 (Moto 2)Spa RallySpa is a place synonymous with many things – stunning forest scenery, great food and, needless to say, legendary motorsport status the world over. It turns out that the iconic Belgian town also puts on quite spectacular dirt-plugging racing, too! Don’t believe us? Let us point you in the direction of the annual Spa Rally, round two of the 2016 Belgian Rally Championship. This fantastic event neatly throws all the trappings of top-flight international rallying into one glorious melting pot, and sees a whole host of vehicles and highly talented off-road speed freaks fly through cringingly narrow forest tracks and wide open asphalt both day and night. You can expect copious slipping and sliding action from our delayed-as-live coverage of the madness, so miss this at your peril.Delayed-as-live Spa Rally – Saturday 19 March at 16:50All times are GMTBroadcast time and date
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