Hyundai Motorsport Preview: Rally Sweden
- Hyundai Motorsport targets competitive fight-back at Rally Sweden, the second event of the 13-round FIA World Rally Championship
- Hayden Paddon set for his first WRC event of the season as he takes charge of the #6 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC with co-driver Seb Marshall
- Hyundai Motorsport Driver development Program (HMDP) driver Jari Huttunen ready for WRC2 debut.
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Hyundai Motorsport will be hoping to get its 2018 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) back on track next weekend as it tackles the second round of the season, Rally Sweden.
Despite showing glimpses of potential in Rallye Monte-Carlo, the team left the Principality with a disappointing fifth place finish, as all three of its Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC cars ran into trouble over the course of the weekend.
Salvaging six stage wins and seven Power Stage points from the season-opener, the team is aiming for a more representative result as the WRC moves onto the snowy Scandinavian stages.
Three crews will fly the flag for the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team in Sweden. Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville will again compete in the #4 and #5 cars, while Hayden Paddon returns to take over the #6 car from Dani Sordo for this event.
Salvaging six stage wins and seven Power Stage points from the season-opener, the team is aiming for a more representative result as the WRC moves onto the snowy Scandinavian stages.
Three crews will fly the flag for the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team in Sweden. Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville will again compete in the #4 and #5 cars, while Hayden Paddon returns to take over the #6 car from Dani Sordo for this event.
Podium precedent
Both Neuville and Paddon have registered podium finishes in Sweden, finishing second in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Mikkelsen, meanwhile, twice visited the podium with his former team and will be aiming to replicate those performances in his first full snow event for Hyundai Motorsport.
The 19-stage rally will be a celebratory occasion for the Norwegian with Friday’s itinerary taking in six stages across the Swedish border in his native Norway.
All three crews prepared for the event with a three-day test in Kall, Sweden from 30 January to 1 February. Fresh snowfall made for ideal conditions with temperatures expected to remain sub-zero for the rally. The Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC will be fitted with studded Michelin tyres to tackle the frozen stages, which offer some of the fastest roads of the season.
We want to put the disappointment of Monte-Carlo quickly behind us, and effectively start our 2018 season in Sweden. While Monte offered a very particular rally with unpredictable conditions, we now face an entirely different challenge with the fast and frozen stages of Sweden and Norway. One thing was clear from the first rally of the new season – we can take nothing for granted. We are not going to be gifted good results; we will have to work for them. We aim to do just that at Rally Sweden. For Andreas, this is going to be a special event, with several stages on his home terrain. Thierry and Hayden have both scored podiums for us in Sweden in the past, so I think we have a strong crew line-up. We’re as prepared as we can be for whatever Rally Sweden holds in store.
Young gun goes for it in WRC2
Rally Sweden will also mark the formal debut of Hyundai Motorsport’s Driver development Program (HMDP) in WRC2. Finnish driver Jari Huttunen and his co-driver Antti Linnaketo will take the wheel of a Hyundai i20 R5 for the first of selected rounds in this season’s competitive WRC2 category.
Sweden will act as a prelude for the youngster’s first full competitive season as an HMDP driver, and will be followed by Rally México in March. The wintry conditions offered by Rally Sweden will be a familiar feeling for the Finn. He will test in Sweden on 11-12 February to prepare for his first WRC2 event of 2018.
It is an exciting moment for our HMDP as Jari and Antti prepare for the first of their WRC2 events this season. We have been working closely with them since last September to build up to this moment. Sweden should be a good first test for them, on snowy conditions with which they are confident, but at the same time knowing that the competition in WRC2 is immensely tough. All we want from them is to have a trouble-free weekend, to bring the car home and to gain valuable experience.
Bite-size Sweden
- Held over four days and 19 stages, Rally Sweden has a total competitive stage distance of 314.25km
- Karlstad trotting track gets the action underway on Thursday with a spectacular super special.
- Rallying takes place in two countries with six stages on Friday held over the border into Norway
- Highlight of Saturday’s schedule is the famous Colin’s Crest jump in the Vargåsen stage. The record is currently set at 45m, and was won by Hyundai Motorsport crews in 2014 and 2015
- A quarter of all stages are new for 2018 with a return on Saturday to the Torntorp stage, not run since 2014 – Hyundai Motorsport’s debut season
- Sensational snowy backdrops offer some of the most iconic footage of the season, with crews required to stay focused right up to Sunday’s Torsby Power Stage.
Press contact
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Natasha Waddington
Head of PR
natasha.waddington@hyundai.co.ukRobin Hayles
Head of Product & Technical PR
robin.hayles@hyundai.co.ukEmma Illman
Product Press Officer
emma.illman@hyundai.co.ukHarriet Ward
PR Coordinator
