2018 MEDIA GUIDE Rallye Deutschland August 16 - 19, 2018
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2018 MEDIA GUIDE Rallye Deutschland August 16 - 19, 2018 ROUND 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rallye Deutschland August 16 - 19, 2018 HYUNDAI’S HELLO Welcome to Rallye Deutschland, Hyundai Motorsport’s home event, which takes place during a very exciting time for the WRC with both title battles finely balanced. Although last month’s Rally Finland didn’t produce the ultimate result for our team, Hayden finished just outside the podium places after a strong drive. Thierry and Nicolas continue to lead the Drivers’ championship with an advantage of 21 points, while the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team heads the Manufacturers’ championship by 26 points so there’s plenty of reason to be positive. I must also congratulate our HMDP crew of Jari and Antti for recording their first WRC2 podium of the year with second in that class. Rallye Deutschland is the first tarmac event on the calendar since Tour de Corse in April. Since then we’ve worked on improving the suspension, especially the dampers, and centre differential mapping with two aims in mind: to achieve more grip for the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC and find a better balance. This follows feedback from our drivers during Corsica where they reported being hampered by understeer. Our three drivers for Germany – Thierry, Dani and Andreas – have all sampled the changes during development testing and they also got the opportunity to finalise their set-ups during the recent pre-event test, which took place over five days so we could experience the vineyard roads and those within the Baumholder military range, which are very specific to this rally. As is always the case, the weather can be a big factor on Rallye Deutschland and it’s one of the challenges we know we might face but can never control. Any variables when it comes to the weather are not easy to manage but we have a very experienced team of engineers and drivers to rely upon. After being outside the podium in Finland, it will be important to regain some of the ground we lost in Jyväskylä. We have a strong driver line-up at our disposal in Germany, including Jari and Antti in WRC2, and it’s important we give them a competitive car which is why we have put in a lot of work since Corsica to do this. It’s difficult to quantify the work we have done, but we are quite optimistic we’ve found some improvements for our home rally. And as our base in Alzenau is some 200 kilometres away, personnel from the factory will be coming along to lend their support, which is always good to see. We hope it will be a memorable experience for them. Michel Nandan Team Principal, Hyundai Motorsport Rallye Deutschland August 16 - 19, 2018 ON STAGE WITH... THIERRY NEUVILLE You start Rallye Deutschland leading the world championship. How does that sound? “It was also the situation last year – we started in Germany with exactly the same points as Ogier – but the margin is much bigger this time. Hopefully we can find the speed to manage to lead the THIERRY NEUVILLE championship until the end of the season.” TEAM POSITION: Driver It’s effectively your ‘home’ round of the WRC so AGE: 29 how excited are you at the prospect of competing on Rallye Deutschland? WRC STARTS: 93 “It’s a very nice event and I really enjoy it. It’s close @thierryneuville to the Belgian border with a lot of fans coming and supporting us. My family will be also attending /thierryneuvilleof- the rally.” ficial You might enjoy the rally but it’s certainly not easy. Can you describe the challenge? “Rallye Deutschland is a hard event because every day you have to tackle different kinds of stages. You have the vineyards, the Saarland stages and then you have Baumholder, which is fantastic with a good atmosphere but really demanding at the same time. When the weather is not great it makes it surprisingly slippery in some corners. When you also consider the concrete blocks on the side of the road and the high tyre wear, it becomes really challenging.” It’s fair to say it is quite intense as a rally? “It is intense. For many years now we have always had rain for one day, which makes it very challenging for the tyre choice. You also have to work closely with your gravel crew because it can be quite muddy when there is a lot of rain.” So a rally where you really need to use your brain? “You have to think a lot to get the confidence at Rallye Deutschland. Making the right tyre choice is very important.” What does the extra fan support mean to you? “Of course you see them with a lot of Belgian flags around the stages and they give you a lot of support. It won’t change the result but it’s good to see so many people from your country supporting you.” Where do you rank this rally compared to other events on the WRC calendar? “For me, it’s one of the highlights, definitely. I enjoy being there, I enjoy the vineyards a lot, it’s very technical, very fast and very unusual. It’s only in Germany where you have this style of roads and Baumholder is also unique, so it’s a really nice event.” Rallye Deutschland August 16 - 19, 2018 HYUNDAI HAPPENINGS ● Hayden Paddon was Hyundai Motorsport’s top performer on the last round of the World Rally Championship in Finland in late July where he finished just outside the podium in fourth place. ● Thierry Neuville maintained his Drivers’ championship advantage over Sébastien Ogier in ninth after being hampered by an unfavourable road position for much of the event. He completed the rally on a high note, however, by claiming two bonus points for going fourth fastest on the Power Stage. Andreas Mikkelsen rounded out the top 10 after recovering from a roll on stage four. ● Teamwork was key for Hyundai Motorsport in Finland following a tough opening morning when both Mikkelsen and Neuville went off the road on consecutive stages, which necessitated extensive repair work by the Hyundai mechanics during midday service. Team manager Alain Penasse said: “They did an amazing job”. ● Hyundai Motorsport has carried out five days of testing in preparation for Rallye Deutschland with all three works crews in action on vineyard roads and in the Baumholder military ranges, on terrain typical of what will feature on the event. HMDP driver Jari Huttunen also had a chance to test his Hyundai i20 R5 over two days in the week before the rally. ● August will be a busy month for Dani Sordo. Fresh from his Rallye Deutschland appearance, the Spaniard will be heading east to the Czech Republic for the country’s round of the FIA European Rally Championship, Rally Zlín. There he will drive a Hyundai i20 R5 with the aim of showcasing the car to potential customers. The event, which uses all-asphalt stages, will also mark Dani’s ERC debut and follows on from a two-day test in Czech Republic earlier in August. ● Hyundai Motorsport Driver development Program crew Jari Huttunen and Antti Linnaketo were on form on Rally Finland, finishing second in the WRC2 category and just outside the top 10 after an encouraging performance on their home event. It was their first WRC2 podium and followed on from Nicolas Ciamin’s top-three finish on the previous WRC2 round in Sardinia in another Hyundai i20 R5. Afterwards, Huttunen said: “We can take this momentum forward to Germany where I hope we can make some more improvements.” Rallye Deutschland August 16 - 19, 2018 HYUNDAI IN NUMBERS 1967: Company founded in Korea and has gone on to establish sales networks in 190 countries and employs over 110,000 people. 10,000: Of those global employees some 10,000 people work at Hyundai’s R&D base in the Korean city of Namyang. 4: Across 13 rounds of the 2017 WRC, Hyundai crews scored four victories on Tour de Corse, Rally Argentina, Rally Poland and Rally Australia. Poland was especially successful as the team celebrated a one-two finish, with Thierry Neuville heading home Hayden Paddon. 12: In total, Hyundai Motorsport drivers took 12 individual podium finishes in 2017 and four double podiums in Corsica, Portugal, Poland and Australia. 91: Hyundai crews amassed 91 stage wins in the 2017 season as well as 56 Power Stage points. 3: As its name suggests, the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC comes with three doors compared to the five in its predecessor. But while there are two doors less, the new-for-2017 challenger has a power output of 380hp thanks to the introduction of a larger turbo restrictor – up from 33mm to 36mm. 10: The Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC is wider but lighter – it has shed 10kg compared to the New Generation i20 WRC. 1: With the current regulations allowing manufacturers to nominate three point- scoring drivers rather than two, the three Hyundai i20 Coupe WRCs are entered under one banner: Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team. 6,000: Prior to the launch of the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, some 6,000 kilometres had been covered during extensive development testing. 50: Hyundai Motorsport’s Alzenau base is located within a 50-kilometre radius of Hyundai Motor Europe’s base in Offenbach and Hyundai Motor Europe’s Technical and Design Centre in Rüsselsheim. 0.7: Thierry Neuville’s 0.7-second victory over Sébastien Ogier on Rally Italia Sardegna matched his winning margin over Elfyn Evans in Argentina last year – one of the closest in WRC history.