In the next few weeks, we’ll be seeing Hyundai’s i20 WRC cars competing in the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Hyundai plans to run a 2 car team for this leg of the 2015 World Rally Championship, but plans have already been set to swap to a 3 car team for the Swedish leg to follow.
Much like any top-level motorsport championship, rally teams adjust and improve their cars over the course of the season, relying on things like driver feedback and data logging. Naturally one of the benefits of fielding 3 cars as opposed to two is quicker development and improvements thanks to a larger volume of collected data. Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “As we saw last year, having three cars on WRC events is very positive and helps us to develop our Hyundai i20 WRC more rapidly.”
Piloting the third car will be Hayden Paddon, paired with co-driver John Kennard. This Kiwi duo had a 7-round programme with Hyundai through 2014, achieving impressive results for a WRC debut year. 2015 sees a 10-round programme with Hyundai, despite not be able to compete in the Monte-Carlo leg of the WRC.
Paddon and Kennard will be joining the other two pairs: Belgian crew Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul and Spaniards Dani Sordo/Marc Martí, racing cars #7 and #8 respectively. Hyundai Motorsport carried out a preparatory test in Sweden in mid-December with Neuville and Sordo each driving two days in the Hyundai i20 WRC. Paddon will test the car for one day during the week prior to the rally, with the Belgian and the Spaniard also getting some extra time in the Hyundai i20 WRC with a half-day test each.
