Thierry Neuville: “Nobody knows” answer to Hyundai’s WRC struggles

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Hyundai’s sporting director Andrew Wheatley admitted the performance displayed in the Canary Islands was what was expected given the current conundrum facing the team in its quest to extract consistent speed from the i20 N.

“It was as we expected but one of the positives is we came here with a clear target of minimising mistakes and we achieved that, and that is down to the hard work of the team,” said Wheatley.

“It is collectively frustrating for the team and it is not for the want of trying [to fix]. It is clearly a complex thing.

“We have been working on it for a year and if it was easy we would have fixed it 11 months ago. It is clearly not an issue that is easy to fix. A number of drivers have tried, and a number of engineers have tried.

"The car is really fast in its window but the difficulty is that stages don’t take place in narrow windows, and you need a wide adaptability in the car.”

Hyundai hopes gravel rallies will ignite season

Hyundai is however optimistic it can start to turn its season around when the championship heads to the first pure gravel round of the year in Portugal next week.

The i20 N challenged for victory in Portugal last year, and recent testing has given the squad cause for renewed optimism.

“I think we have to be realistic. Beating five Toyotas is not easy on any surface. We know that we have the potential performance, and we know we have improved the reliability, we know the car and the team is working hard to minimise any time loss outside of pure performance. We have three drivers super fired up and ready to go," added Wheatley.

Neuville shares the optimism following a positive test on gravel before last weekend’s Canary Islands visit.

“It is good to be optimistic as that is what helps us move forward,” said Neuville.

“We shouldn’t be too optimistic either. We need to have both feet on the ground and we are facing a very strong competitor that is doing everything right. They are five [cars] we are three [cars]. We might have more speed, but the rally is long."

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