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It's a measure of how far the Hyundai brand - and its products' quality - have come over the past decade or so that two i20 compacts have entered the 2014 World Rally championship. Go guys...!
ALZENAU, Germany - Hyundai Motorsport continued through October to prepare for its entry into the 2014 World Rally championship by testing its i20 WRC over 15 days and more than 1000km on gravel and tar.
It's not the first time Hyundai has tried top-class rallying - it raced Hyundai Accents back at the turn of the century, too.
LATEST-SPEC CARS
Hyundai Motorsport team principal Michel Nandan said: "October was exceptionally busy. We tested the i20 WRC on both surfaces for more than half of the month, our three test drivers swopping the driving seat for four test sessions.
"We now have two latest-spec i20 WRC cars so we can further intensify the development schedule by alternating. Overall, it was a positive month as we managed to test new parts, try different set-ups and cover some good distance with the car.”
October’s testing started with a four-day gravel test in southern Spain where the team continued to assess the behaviour of the i20 in warm weather with both Juho Hanninen and Chris Atkinson on duty. Nandan explained:
“During this test we took the opportunity to continue the development of the car on gravel similar to that which we will experience in Portugal and Sardinia in 2014. We tried several configurations and evaluated some components we hadn’t tested."
NEW SUSPENSION PARTS
This was followed by a tarmac test in Baumholder, Germany, home of the iconic Arena Panzerplatte, which forms part of Rallye Deutschland’s route.
“We had some new suspension parts to try as we hadn’t tested on tarmac since August,” Nandan explained
In the final week of October the team continued tarmac development in Catalonia on the roads of Rally of Spain, the penultimate round of the WRC, raced a week earlier.
“Testing on the same roads as the rally allowed us to start to have some references on the stages we will tackle in 2014."
October also marked the start of another important process for the Hyundai Motorsport team. The dossier for homologation of the i20 WRC had to be compiled and lodged with the International Automobile Federation by the end of October.
ALZENAU, Germany - Hyundai Motorsport continued through October to prepare for its entry into the 2014 World Rally championship by testing its i20 WRC over 15 days and more than 1000km on gravel and tar.
It's not the first time Hyundai has tried top-class rallying - it raced Hyundai Accents back at the turn of the century, too.
LATEST-SPEC CARS
Hyundai Motorsport team principal Michel Nandan said: "October was exceptionally busy. We tested the i20 WRC on both surfaces for more than half of the month, our three test drivers swopping the driving seat for four test sessions.
"We now have two latest-spec i20 WRC cars so we can further intensify the development schedule by alternating. Overall, it was a positive month as we managed to test new parts, try different set-ups and cover some good distance with the car.”
October’s testing started with a four-day gravel test in southern Spain where the team continued to assess the behaviour of the i20 in warm weather with both Juho Hanninen and Chris Atkinson on duty. Nandan explained:
“During this test we took the opportunity to continue the development of the car on gravel similar to that which we will experience in Portugal and Sardinia in 2014. We tried several configurations and evaluated some components we hadn’t tested."
NEW SUSPENSION PARTS
This was followed by a tarmac test in Baumholder, Germany, home of the iconic Arena Panzerplatte, which forms part of Rallye Deutschland’s route.
“We had some new suspension parts to try as we hadn’t tested on tarmac since August,” Nandan explained
In the final week of October the team continued tarmac development in Catalonia on the roads of Rally of Spain, the penultimate round of the WRC, raced a week earlier.
“Testing on the same roads as the rally allowed us to start to have some references on the stages we will tackle in 2014."
October also marked the start of another important process for the Hyundai Motorsport team. The dossier for homologation of the i20 WRC had to be compiled and lodged with the International Automobile Federation by the end of October.
