After the great fear, here’s the good news. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe were discharged from hospital in Montpellier, France, after the terrible accident that saw them protagonists this afternoon.
The Hyundai Motorsport crew was intent on taking part in a development test at the wheel of the new i20 N Rally1 in southwestern France, near Mazamet, a town between Toulouse and Montpellier, with Neuville and Wydaeghe taking the lead. of a road exit.
This turned out to be very violent, so much so that it demolished the i20 N Rally1 which had made its debut just last week, in the first test which saw Ott Tanak as protagonists at the wheel first and then Oliver Solberg.
The version very close to the definitive car that will make its debut at the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2022 after FIA homologation was destroyed in the accident as shown by the chilling images that have been circulating on the web for a few hours (and which you can find below).
After the accident, the Belgian crew was taken to hospital in Montpellier, about 160 kilometers from the accident site, for the necessary examinations to avoid physical damage to the native of Sankt Vith and his Flemish navigator.
Ott Tanak, Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hervé Tusoli
From the first news released by Hyundai Motorsport, Wydaeghe suffered a shoulder injury, while Neuville seems to have emerged unscathed from the carom. Then, at 11.05pm Italian time, here’s the good news.
“Update: exams in hospital completed for Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe. Both have been discharged from hospital in Montpellier”, reads the brief statement from the Korean team published on its official pages of the main social networks.
A great sigh of relief for everyone, but which once again underlines how much modern rally cars have taken the right path from the point of view of safety. For Neuville it is the first accident of this magnitude since 9 June 2020, when he destroyed an i20 Coupé WRC Plus in the first tests after the first wave of the COVID pandemic that blocked all the FIA World Championships, tests included. Instead, it is the first serious carom for Martijn Wydaeghe, who has been near Neuville for just under a year.
This incident did not affect Hyundai Motorsport’s week of testing. Today was the last of three days of testing in which Ott Tanak and Oliver Solberg tested the car, as well as in Neuville. Now the team will have to prepare a new car for the tests scheduled during this month, in which the team will proceed with the development of the i20 N Rally1 and will compete in the tests ahead of the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2022.
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