HYUNDAI: WIN IN OZ SHOWS TITLE POTENTIAL
Firm says australia form can spark a chase for the crown
Hyundai fired a warning shot across the bows of its World Rally Championship rivals with a dominant performance at last week’s Rally Australia.
The Korean squad was never headed in New South Wales with first Andreas Mikkelsen and then Thierry Neuville leading the final round of this year’s championship. The combination of those two drivers will, the team feels, be enough to push it to the front of the 2018 title race.
Mikkelsen started Rally Australia chasing back-to-back wins down under, but his day-one advantage was undone when he was forced out after suffering two punctures in the Newry stage on Saturday morning. Going into that test, Neuville was 15 seconds behind his team-mate and in the perfect place to pick up the lead when the Norwegian’s i20 Coupe WRC faltered.
Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan said the Coffs Harbour performance demonstrated the intentions for next season.
“The decision to bring Andreas is, from what we have seen already, the right one,” said Nandan. “In the end we are here to be world champion. We missed it this year and, for sure, we don’t intend to miss it next year so we have to try our best.”
Mikkelsen’s arrival in the team has cost Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo their full-time seats, but team manager Alain Penasse said the team had to put its competitive intentions ahead of anything else.
“We are the complete team now,” Penasse told MN. “We said at the start of the year that we thought we had the [driver] line-up that was the right choice, but during the year it proved to be too weak and that’s why we had to make this change. It doesn’t please Dani or Hayden, but we’re not here to please them, we’re here to do the job.
“There is pressure to be world champion and the manufacturer has the desire to achieve that; there is no phone call from Korea, no pointing the finger to us, but there is the passive pressure. We are aware we have to deliver.”
Mikkelsen was disappointed to have missed out on the victory, but added that he could feel the confidence in the team after just three rallies in an i20.
He said: “There is good confidence for next year. I feel honoured to be hired into the team and to be seen by the team as one of the main drivers fighting for the championship alongside Thierry next year. I think this can be a very strong team.”
Nandan said Hyundai took further confidence from the speed Neuville showed running in the 2018 specification i20.
“We made the homologation in October so he could use this car in Wales,” Nandan explained to MN. “At that point there was still the chance for him in the championship – that’s why we gave this car to Thierry. We couldn’t make three of these [2018] cars for the last rallies.
“We had some issues with the car, but we focused the development on the reliability for the next season car and this is done – with this car we can go to next year’s championship with good confidence.”
Manufacturers’ champion team principal from this year, Malcolm Wilson, admitted Hyundai’s threat would be greater in 2018. “The driver line-up they’ve got for next season has more experience, so I’m sure it’s going to be tougher,” he said. “But it’s not just Hyundai, I think the championship generally will be closer next time.”
Nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb will not return to Citroen for next year’s Monte Carlo Rally – but he could be back with the French team later in the season.
Loeb had been widely tipped to make his competitive debut in a C3 WRC on his favourite round of the championship, but there will be no dream return for the superstar Frenchman on a rally he’s won seven times.
Citroen team principal Yves Matton told MN: “We are in discussions with him [Loeb] for next year. The only thing we know – and we decided this together – is that he won’t be in Monte Carlo. It’s too difficult with the Dakar Rally, but it doesn’t mean he will not appear [in a Citroen] next year – we are in discussions. We have to finalise this looking to a global view on what will be our drivers next year.”
Loeb will contest Peugeot’s final Dakar in the 3008 DKR in January and his commitment to the South American event meant he would have landed back in Europe just hours before the start of the recce for the season opener in 2018.
Matton continued: “Sebastien’s priority for next year will be the World Rallycross programme.”
Matton declined to confirm his driver line-up for next season would be Kris Meeke and Craig Breen, with Khalid Al-qassimi contesting a handful of events in a third C3 WRC and Stephane Lefebvre focusing his efforts on a C3 R5 development project. “It’s still too early to talk about the line-up,” said Matton. “We will confirm this in the next weeks. It’s not finalised and it’s not possible for me to announce drivers.” Asked if there would be any surprises in the announcement, Matton added: “I don’t know what you would consider a surprise.”