The Hyundai Motorsport team scored another victory in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe leading the team to a 1-2-3 finish at the 2022 EKO Acropolis Rally Greece.
The Belgians seized top spot early in the rally after 9-time world champion Sebastien Loeb had to drop out when his pace-setting M-Sport Ford Puma had alternator failure. From that moment onwards, the Hyundai duo never looked back, followed by team-mates Ott Tanak and Dani Sordo.
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Toyota has dominated the World Rally Championship (WRC) news this year with victory after victory, so it was refreshing to have a different brand celebrating its win on the podium. Ott Tanak secured Secto Rally Finland victory to give Hyundai Motorsport its first ever triumph in the event with a perfect drive.
The Estonian driver led from the second stage of the rally to finish the 4-day gravel road fixture 6.8 seconds ahead of Toyota GR Yaris rival, Kalle Rovanpera. Though enjoying a lead, Tanak did not have it easy in his Hyundai i20 N but was still able to produce top times throughout, thanks to hard grit and determination.
At the opening stage of the Rally Finland, Rovanpera had been slow to move forward but then went on to win 5 stages the next day, climbing from fourth to second overall. He ended the penultimate day just 8.4 seconds behind after managing to narrow the gap despite the unpredictable conditions.
Dry conditions ensured further fast-paced action for closing leg, but Tanak was clearly not willing to lose his leading position. He gave just 1.8 second away to his rival over the 4 speed tests, and Rovanpera virtually resigned himself from a maiden home WRC victory.
With a strong collection of points in the bag, the 21-year was unwilling to take any unnecessary risks. Even without winning this round, he has extended his championship lead to 94 points after 8 rounds (with another 5 to go). Meanwhile, the Toyota GAZOO Racing team has a gap of 88 points in the lead in the Manufacturers’ standings with all three Yaris hybrid rallycars in the top four.
WRC2
Finishing eighth overall, Teemu Suninen finished the event with what was to be his first WRC2 victory of the season. However, it was not to be as he was disqualified due to this i20 N Rally2 car being underweight.
In post-event scrutineering, the weight of the front bumper was recorded as 3,931 gms – below the minimum allowed weight of 4,510 gms required to comply with homologation.
The team did not dispute the finding and explained that the front bumper was not an original part produced by Hyundai Motorsport but a copy. It has been used as a replacement for the original bumper during testing and was fitted to Suninen’s car wrongly.
Suninen’s disqualification meant that Skoda Fabia Rally2 driver Emil Lindholm, who finished 7.7 seconds behind in the rally in a Fabia Evo, received the maximum points as category winner.
WRC3
In the WRC3 category, Lauri Joona outran his rivals to secure a convincing victory in his home round. The FIA Junior WRC regular won all but 1 stage across the weekend in the all-Ford Fiesta Rally 3 category despite experiencing steering issues on both Friday and Saturday.
Already having a comfortable lead over second-placed Jan Cerny into Sunday, Joona did not let up his relentless push and took a clean sweep on all 4 of the final leg’s speed tests. His win moved him within a single point of championship leader Sami Pajari, who was contesting the WRC2 category.
After Rally Finland, the WRC returns to asphalt in less than 2 weeks when Belgium is again a WRC host country with Ypres Rally Belgium to take place on August 18 – 21.
Just as the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship will see the biggest changes in technical rules in some four decades, the 50th season of the World Rally Championship (WRC) will undergo major environmental changes as new FIA technical regulations drive the series towards a more sustainable future.
Under its PurposeDriven movement, the FIA is taking an innovation-led approach to deliver sustainable motorsport. One goal is to reach carbon neutrality by 2030. An even bigger revolution concerns the drivetrain, with hybrid technology mandatory for what are known as Rally1 cars. The plug-in hybrid unit, including all necessary components and software, will be common, with the potential for more freedom of development in 2024.
In the WRC’s first-ever rallycars with hybrid powertrains, an electric motor works together with the proven 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine. Rally1 cars will have up to 134 ps of additional power available in certain situations.
The unique Rally1 hybrid system has three principal modes: Full Electric Mode in which cars will have full electric range, Stage Start Mode when the system’s full power will be available, and Stage Mode in which teams and drivers will be able to create up to three personalised ‘maps’ to decide how to deploy the hybrid power. The system also provides the opportunity to reduce emissions locally via full electric driving on road sections in built-up areas.
Fundamental revisions to the technical regulations also see the top-tier Rally1 class for manufacturer teams bringing a substantial gain in crew safety with an upgraded safety cell chassis. There will also be more equality between competitors due to a new design approach.
Another milestone is the introduction of 100% sustainable fuel, a first for any FIA World Championship. Part of the FIA’s race-to-road strategy is to implement sustainable energy sources across its motorsport disciplines to reduce CO₂ emissions.
The renewable fuel from P1 Racing Fuels is a blend of synthetic and bio-derived components. This green fuel will be mandatory to all top-tier competitors at WRC events. In its development, P1 Racing Fuels will collaborate with global energy and chemical experts Aramco on the formulation of advanced-generation biofuels and sustainable synthetic fuels derived from captured CO2 and low-carbon hydrogen.
Fundamental revisions to the technical regulations also see the top-tier Rally1 class for manufacturer teams bringing a substantial gain in crew safety with an upgraded safety cell chassis. There will also be more equality between competitors due to a new design approach.
Introducing hybrid powertrains has been a key part in ensuring Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford are fully committed to the WRC from 2022 to 2024. All three teams have been testing their new cars which will debut in competition at the Rallye Monte-Carlo, the opening round of the 2022 season, next week.
The new generation of Rally1 cars from the 3 manufacturers were shown together for the first time in Austria yesterday at a special ceremony that marked the beginning of a new era in rallying. In the presence of new FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, reigning champions TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, Hyundai Motorsport and M-Sport Ford unveiled their all-new rallycars which will compete across 13 rounds on 4 continents.
“Today’s launch of the new Rally1 era is a very proud and significant moment for the FIA and entire rally family and I would like to congratulate WRC Promoter for delivering a great show at the start of the championship’s 50th anniversary season,” said Ben Sulayem, a former WRC competitor himself. “The enthusiasm for the FIA’s new technical regulations has been very much in evidence in recent months and the event further underlined the momentum coming from the teams and manufacturers, with Rallye Monte-Carlo just a few days away.”
New Rally1 category with hybrid technology for World Rally Championship in 2022
Since the establishment of its Customer Racing division in 2015, Hyundai Motorsport has been providing teams and drivers competitive cars for rallies or circuit racing. From its competitive i20 R5 rallycar to the competitive i30 N TCR, Hyundai Motorsport-built cars have claimed victory in several championships, including national rally series in France and Spain, as well as consecutive titles in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in 2018 and 2019.
5 years of experience
Drawing on the Customer Racing department’s 5 years of experience with the i20 R5, an all-new rallycar has been developed for privateer teams and drivers. Revealed recently, the new i20 N Rally2 is an improved all-round package based on the strong foundation of the new road-going i20 N chassis.
The i20 N Rally2, to be entered in 2021 rallies, retains the dynamic look of the road car – part of Hyundai’s new ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ identity – which includes several elements inspired by motorsport. With the exception of the 5-speed sequential gearbox from the i20 R5, nearly every other part of the i20 N Rally2 is brand new, including the 1.6-litre turbocharged engine.
“The i20 R5 was the first car from our Customer Racing department, and the new i20 N Rally2 shows how far we have come in the 5 years since the creation of the department,” said Team Principal Andrea Adamo. “Every area of the new car is an improvement over the original, thanks to the work of our dedicated team of designers and engineers.”
Fresh approach
The design process began in January this year with a specialised group of designers and engineers leveraging the experience of the i20 R5 project. In doing so, they have been able to take advantage of the growth of the Customer Racing business since 2015, which has seen the department grow from a handful of people to a team of 60.
The development of the i20 R5 has continued, with the engineers providing several updates to the original car in recent seasons to improve handling and performance. The i20 N Rally2 carries over these enhancements, with the new chassis allowing further gains in nearly every aspect of the car.
New suspension components and dampers give the car more driver-friendly handling characteristics on all surfaces – vital for the Rally2 category, which forms the basis for national and regional championships as well as WRC 2 and WRC 3 classes.
On a mission for more success
The i20 N Rally2 is developed with the aim of continuing the success of the i20 R5, which has claimed numerous titles with our customers since its debut in 2016. The i20 R5 customer teams will continue to receive the same level of support, uninterrupted by the development of the new car.
“Our focus is now on testing the i20 N Rally2 to further develop each aspect of the design to improve performance and reliability, while also ensuring the handling enables each of our customers to achieve the best possible results when they start competing with the car in 2021,” said Adamo.
Hyundai N reveals RM20e electric midship racing car (w/VIDEO)
Like Mercedes-Benz with AMG and BMW’s M, Hyundai Motor also has a high-performance sub-brand which it calls ‘Hyundai N’. The first association of ‘N’ with Hyundai was when the carmaker presented its N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo concept car for PlayStation’s Gran Turismo videogame series in 2015.
In that same year, Hyundai brought in Albert Biermann, the former head of BMW’s M division, to spearhead the development of the N sub-brand and create a line of high-performance production cars.
Born in the WRC
To introduce the N brand as well as to give Hyundai engineers a development environment that was high pressured and extreme, Hyundai Motorsport, based in Germany, was tasked with participating in the World Rally Championship (WRC). In WRC events, rallycars compete on rough terrain and roads of gravel, tarmac, snow and ice, pushed to the limits by their drivers. Thus WRC is considered the ‘cradle of the N line-up’ where Hyundai’s high-performance concepts were first tested.
Besides the ‘WRC testing ground’ which is global, Hyundai engineers also used the Nordschliefe at the Nurburgring circuit for durability testing and tuning. In fact, since September 2014, the carmaker has had a permanent presence at the circuit, having established its European Test Centre there.
What does Hyundai N mean?
The ‘N’ in Hyundai N stands for Namyang, home to Hyundai Motor’s global R&D Centre in Korea since 1995, and also for Nurburgring, where N models are tested and developed further. The close connection between Namyang and the Nurburgring created the foundation for N, aiming to build on the company’s motorsport experience to bring winding road fun to customers who love cars. The ‘N’ logo itself embodies this idea, as it symbolises a chicane.
Measured in BPM, not RPM
The first mass production Hyundai N high-performance car, the i30 N, was launched earlier this year, Instead of focusing on pure numbers, Hyundai has chosen to emphasise driving pleasure and the emotional impact on the driver’s heartbeats per minute (BPM), rather than simply measuring revs per minute (RPM). When the driver hits the throttle and shifts through the gears, the Rev-matching function increases torque and acceleration.
Based on three cornerstones under the theme ‘Fun to Drive’, the i30 N is referred to as a ‘Corner Rascal’, and has proven its racetrack capability. It can be used for racing on weekends and driven to work on Monday.
The i30 N TCR
The i30 N TCR represents Hyundai Motorsport’s first steps into circuit racing (while continuing with the WRC), and entrance into one of the fastest growing categories in motorsport. The design phase of the i30 N TCR project began in September 2016, with the first completed test car running in April 2017. In 2019, Hyundai Motorsport increased its TCR offering with the launch of the Veloster N TCR.
The TCR project continues the expansion of Hyundai Motorsport, with both cars built and developed by the Customer Racing department at the team’s headquarters in Germany. Since its debut, the i30 N TCR (priced from €128,000, equivalent to RM588,000) has secured wins and championships around the world, including the inaugural WTCR titles in 2018.
2020 Hyundai i30 N for sale on Lazada! 20 units only – RM298,888
Hyundai Motorsport is well on its way in the testing phase for their first electric race car project, the Hyundai Veloster N ETCR. The company spent two long days in Budapest last week testing out the all-electric race-spec Veloster at Hungaroring without any issues or hiccups. (more…)
Hyundai Motorsport is planning to enter a new era as they have begun work on a very exciting electric race car. This will be their first-ever electric vehicle and what better way to showcase it than jumping all the hurdles straight to a race car. Is it going to be a race-spec electric i30? We can only hope, for now. (more…)
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