Hyundai Motorsport left Finland with a result well above initial expectations, finding itself leading the Drivers’ Championship with Thierry Neuville 27 points ahead of the nearest rival and 20 points clear in the Constructors’ Championship.
The standings smile on the Alzenau team, but in terms of performance things have not satisfied the top brass of the Korean team. The Toyotas, on Finnish soil, have been uncatchable for almost all of the 20 special stages disputed and only a management of the team that is to say the least questionable (certainly it does not help to have the team principal in the race during such a delicate weekend) has allowed Neuville to finish in second place.
Throughout the weekend the Belgian tried to change the set-up of his i20 N Rally1, but found nothing that would allow him to change pace and try to attack on the fast Finnish special stages.
After the event, Cyril Abiteboul explained the difficulties his team faced in the ninth round of the WRC, calling the i20 N “peaky”. This means having a car that has a very narrow window of development.
“I think the story is basically that we have a car that suffers from two things: firstly it has a very narrow operating window for whatever set-up it proposes. When the conditions are stable it can be anything from Shakedown to the Power Stage on Sunday.”
Esapekka Lappi, Janne Ferm, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport
“In a rally like Finland, where the conditions change almost from corner to corner, it doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work,” the Hyundai team principal explained to Motorsport.com.
“In slippery conditions we are not as stable as Toyota, which for me is the benchmark. I think it’s clear, we still have to work on it.”
Hyundai has a series of development tests planned to try to change the situation for next season. There are already some ideas in development in Alzenau that will be tested to try to change things.
“First of all we need to find a wider operating window and secondly work on the low grip conditions. Some of these aspects we are trying to solve with projects that we have in the pipeline for next year’s car, but they are not yet completely resolved. However, we are making great efforts.”
“To solve these problems once and for all, we are planning some dedicated tests.”
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