MIKKELSEN AND SORDO KEEP SEATS
Hyundai team manager Alain Penasse has confirmed the German squad’s line-up in Monte Carlo with Andreas Mikkelsen and Dani Sordo joining Thierry Neuville in a factory i20 Coupe WRC.
Sordo’s agreement has been expected for weeks now, but Mikkelsen’s position was thought to have come under threat from a number of drivers now on the market – including nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb. Towards the end of last week, there was speculation that Loeb had signed with the Alzenau-based team.
Penasse denied such speculation and called for more responsible reporting from the media.
“We talked to Loeb like we talked to everybody,” he told MN. “That is logical in our position. But I don’t understand where all the fuss came from. There was a story in the media about Loeb not being picked up by Citroen – I don’t know why this is – and everybody picked up on it. I don’t know what he’s doing. Is he doing rallycross? I have no idea. I understand the media has a job to do, but, honestly, some people are making some things up and they even begin to believe their own stories!”
Penasse was particularly frustrated with coverage of a planned team trip to Korea and a subsequent visit to Hyundai Motorsport in Germany from high-ranking Korean Hyundai Motor Corporation officials.
Speculation insisted there would be or had been changes at the top of Hyundai’s team management.
“We had this trip planned for months,” said Penasse. “We took 151 staff from Hyundai Motorsport out to see our colleagues in Korea. Then suddenly this has become some sort of debrief about the season. It’s the same when we have some people coming from Korea, which has always been planned to look forward for the next season. This is the normal life, but some people are wanting to make more of it.”