Hyundai Motorsport reclaims second in the championship
with double top-five finish in Rallye Deutschland
- Hyundai Motorsport has completed Rallye Deutschland with two cars inside the
top-five, helping the team reclaim second place in the Manufacturers’ Championship
- Dani Sordo was the highest placed of the team’s drivers in fourth with Thierry Neuville right behind in fifth place overall
- Hayden Paddon and Kevin Abbring finished their weekend of learning on a positive
note and registered a solid finish with ninth and 11th positions respectively.
August 24, 2015 - Hyundai Motorsport has reclaimed second place in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Manufacturers’ standings after a competitive Rallye Deutschland in Germany with two Hyundai i20 WRCs inside the top-five overall and all four cars successfully completing the rally on last Sunday.
The team finished the ninth round of the 2015 WRC season from August 20 to August 23 which was held in Trier, Germany. With the sole objective of securing strong points-scoring positions, Hyundai Motorsport drivers achieved their targets with a steady run to the end of the last Power Stage.
Hyundai Shell World Rally Team drivers Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville held onto to their respective fourth and fifth positions in this rally. It was also a clean finish to Rallye Deutschland for Hyundai Mobis World Rally Team drivers Hayden Paddon and Kevin Abbring, who have used the weekend’s event as a valuable learning experience.
Sordo (#8 Hyundai i20 WRC) was on competitive form from the outset of the weekend’s rally and has been involved in an exciting battle for fourth place with his team-mate Neuville.
Sordo commented: “It has been a positive rally for me, and I am really happy to finish in a competitive fourth position with a Power Stage point as well. The car has been very nice to drive, especially today, and I don’t think we could have done much more. We took things calmly because it was very clear that our target - both for Thierry and myself - was to secure the top-five positions and to pick up important championship points. We have managed to move back into second place in the Manufacturers’ standings, which is great in our home event. I’d like to say congratulations also to Thierry, he has also had a very strong rally.”
Neuville (#7 Hyundai i20 WRC) has had a positive and generally trouble-free Rallye Deutschland with a fine run to fifth overall, which has helped the Belgian and his co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul to strengthen their own Championship position.
Neuville said: “All in all, I think we can be very pleased with our weekend in Germany. The target was to bring the car home safely in the top five and we have been able to do that without any difficulties. It was fun to be in the fight with Dani for fourth place. I had a couple of stages where the rhythm was not perfect and where Dani was stronger, and that made the difference, so he deserved it. As a team, we have a nice result for the Championship, which is the most important thing. We can now look to build on this performance for the next rallies and, hopefully, we can consolidate this position.”
Rallye Deutschland has offered Paddon (#20 Hyundai i20 WRC) an opportunity to learn more about competing on tarmac, a terrain on which he is less familiar.
Paddon said: “It’s definitely been tough for us last weekend. We knew coming into the rally that we’d have to lower our expectations a bit because we still have a lot to learn on tarmac. We’ve had some ups and downs but there are some good things to take away from the event. We have accumulated a lot of data and information, which we can study back at home to see what we have to work on for the future.
In only their third WRC event with Hyundai Motorsport, Abbring (#10 Hyundai i20 WRC) and co-driver Sebastian Marshall have made good progress, finishing Rallye Deutschland just outside the top-ten.
Abbring commented: “This rally has been an interesting one for us and a valuable experience. The car felt good in final stages and we were able to really enjoy ourselves. It’s been astonishing how many Dutch flags and spectators from Holland there have been here - I’vereally appreciated the fantastic support as a Dutch.”
Hyundai Motorsport has achieved its target of a strong points haul in Rallye Deutschland, a home event for the Alzenau based squad. The result has moved the team back into second in the Manufacturers’ Championship, a position the team aims to defend in the remaining events of 2015.
Team Principal Michel Nandan said: “We have achieved what we set out to accomplish in Rallye Deutschland so I’m very satisfied with this result. The drivers have performed well and truly worked as a team to secure a four-car finish with two cars inside the top-five. We have moved back into second place in the Championship and we must now build on this momentum to consolidate that in the next rounds. Dani and Thierry have both been on competitive form, as we knew they would be, but have shown a sensible approach to the rally to get both cars home in the top-five. For Hayden and Kevin, it has been a weekend of learning. We have also had to deal with some small technical issues but overall it has been a useful weekend for them both, and I commend their professionalism. It has been another enjoyable home event for our team and although we have not been able to fight for a podium, we were actually not too far off at the end. We will continue to push ourselves to close the gap to the frontrunners.”
Overall Final Classification
- S. Ogier / J. Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) 3:35:49.5
- J.M Latvala / M. Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +23.0
- A. Mikkelsen / O. Floene (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +1:56.6
- D. Sordo / M. Martí (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:09.3
- T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:33.8
- E. Evans / D. Barritt (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:52.1
- M. Østberg / J. Andersson (Citroën DS3 WRC) +3:12.5
- O. Tanak / R. Molder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +4:26.6
- H. Paddon / J. Kennard (Hyundai i20 WRC) +4:46.8
- S. Lefebvre / S. Prévot (Citroën DS3 WRC) +4:54.5
- K. Abbring / S. Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) +9:31.4
2015 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
S. Ogier 207 points / J.M. Latvala 114 / A. Mikkelsen 98 / M. Østberg 90 / T. Neuville 80/ E. Evans 61 / K. Meeke 56 / O. Tanak 54 / D. Sordo 52 / H. Paddon 46 / M. Prokop 33 / K. Al Qassimi 9 / Y. Protasov 8 / J. Hänninen 8 / S. Loeb 6 / N. Al-Attyiah 6 / A. Al-Kuwari 6 / R. Kubica 6 / D. Dominguez 4 / P. Andreucci 4 / E. Lappi 4 / N. Fuchs 2 / G. Saba 2 / J. Kopecky 2 / P. Tidemand 2 / J. Ketomaa 1 / F. Villagra 1 / L. Bertelli 1 / S. Lefebvre 1
2015 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
Volkswagen Motorsport 300 points / Hyundai Motorsport 161 / Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 148 / M-Sport World Rally Team 138 / Volkswagen Motorsport II 64 / Hyundai Motorsport N 45 / Jipocar Czech National Team 43 / FWRT SRL 9
All results remain subject to official FIA confirmation.
-Ends-
About Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Established on 19 December 2012, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH is responsible for Hyundai’s global motorsport activities and primarily for its World Rally Championship programme. Based in Alzenau on the outskirts of Frankfurt in Germany, the company embarked on its debut season in the FIA World Rally Championship in 2014 with a bespoke team of skilled staff and a brand new car, the Hyundai i20 WRC. The team made a strong impression in its first year claiming podium results in Mexico and Poland, as well as a memorable 1-2 in Germany with Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo. 2015 is Hyundai Motorsport’s second season in WRC and the team aims to build on the firm foundations laid in its maiden year of competition.
Further information about Hyundai Motorsport is available at:
About Hyundai Motor Company
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is committed to becoming a lifetime partner in automobiles and beyond. The company, which leads the Hyundai Motor Group, an innovative business structure capable of circulating resources from molten iron to finished cars, offers top-quality best-sellers such as Elantra, Sonata and Genesis. Hyundai Motor has eight manufacturing bases and seven design & technical centers worldwide and in 2014, sold 4.96 million vehicles globally. With almost 100,000 employees worldwide, Hyundai Motor continues to enhance its product line-up with localized models and strives to strengthen its leadership in clean technology, starting with the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen-powered vehicle, ix35 Fuel Cell.
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