Hyundai Motorsports World Rally Championship team head to next weekend’s Rally Espana in Spain aiming for a strong event coming off the back of a double podium finish last time out in Finland where Ott Tanank finished second while Craig Breen was third. It is the first time since 2019 that the WRC has competed in Spain and the last time they did Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville took victory while Dani Sordo finished the event in third place.
Speaking ahead of the penultimate event of the season, Neuville commented saying:
When I first participated in Rally de España it was a full tarmac event and now we are back to that profile after a few years of mixed terrain. I’m looking forward to tackling some of the famous stages we have seen in the past. It is a rally I like; the nice flowing roads are really good fun to drive with these WRC cars. It is more of a circuit-style of driving, so you need to be clean and efficient, taking care not to slide too much. You also need good pace notes to rely on to be fast, as it is difficult to make a big difference in the gaps on these types of roads.
Ott Tanak is looking forward to next weekend’s action saying:
It has been a while since we’ve had three days of tarmac competition at Rally de España. It is a very fast event and one that I really enjoy. The roads require pure, clean driving – the routes in the forest are quite smooth with not many cuts and the weather is consistent there, which makes it an enjoyable event for me. After two consecutive podium finishes, it would be nice to secure a hat-trick in Spain as we aim for a strong finish to this season.
Team Principal Andrea Adamo said:
“Following our best result at a rally that has historically been one of our weakest, the entire team is re-energised and ready to tackle Rally de España. We have shown we can be competitive on tarmac with our 1-2 finish in Belgium, so we have set ourselves the highest benchmark. The 2019 podium in Spain featured Thierry, Ott, and Dani, so they all know what it takes to be fast on these roads. With only two rounds of the season remaining, we want to finish the year with our strongest performances as we bid farewell to this era of WRC.