Hyundai Motorsport has taken an early provisional lead of Rallye Monte-Carlo, the opening event of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship

Hyundai Motorsport has begun the defence of its manufacturers’ title in a positive manner, taking an early provisional lead of Rallye Monte-Carlo, the opening event of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship.

There was no easing into the new WRC season for teams and crews with two tricky night-time stages offering a complex challenge on the first day. An initial test from Malijal to Puimichel (SS1), held in atypically dry conditions for Monte, covered 17.47km, before the longer of the two stages, the 25.49km Bayons-Bréziers (SS2), added treacherously icy conditions into the mix.

For the three Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team crews, Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul, Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja and Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Thursday’s stages certainly blew away any cobwebs from the short winter break.

Neuville wasted no time making his intentions clear as he moved into a 19.1-second overall lead following an emphatic win in SS2. Alongside his compatriot co-driver Gilsoul, the Belgian was impressively 25.5-seconds quicker than his nearest rival in the stage.

Tänak and Järveoja ended their first day of action in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC in third overall, two places ahead of the nine-time World Rally Champions Loeb and Elena in fifth place. It was a dramatic opening evening to the new season, which promises to be another exciting year of WRC competition.

Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (#11 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Strong start to Rallye Monte-Carlo for the Belgians, taking an early lead
• Dominant stage win in SS2 (Bayons-Bréziers), 25.5-seconds clear of the field

Neuville said: “We have started the new season with some very tricky conditions on these opening Monte stages. At the beginning of the first one the road was dirty, and I was a bit confused. There were a lot of cuts I didn’t have in my notes. The second stage was much better; I felt comfortable. The conditions towards the end changed quite a lot compared to the information we had, but I just tried to analyse the situation, to keep calm and to read the road as best I could. I thought our tyre choice would be good for the second run; our car was set up quite soft and, in the end, we could set a good time.”

Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (#8 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Estonian crew’s first WRC event for Hyundai Motorsport
• Third place overall in challenging stage conditions

Tänak said: “It’s good to get our first rally with Hyundai Motorsport underway, but we faced some tricky conditions on these first two stages, the second stage especially. We heard from the gravel crew that it was freezing with a lot of black ice but in between it seemed to freeze even more. It was challenging and my aim was just to get through without any issues, without pushing and to have a consistent run. It’s never easy in a new car; there are always unknown things and the feeling is still a bit raw. I am trying to adapt myself as quickly as I can, and it will be nice to get some sleep to collect our thoughts for Friday.”

Crew Notes: Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (#9 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Fifth place overall for the crew, who started seventh on the road
• Nine-time world champions looking to make up ground on Friday

Loeb said: “I am not particularly pleased with the situation after this short but difficult day. I am a bit far off the leading drivers and we’ve lost some time. In the first stage, there was some gravel and leaves; it was very slippery. In the second one, the tyre choice was correct to adapt to the conditions but being further down the road order the grip levels were less favourable as the earlier runners had cut corners. We will try to push tomorrow and see what we can do.”

Team Principal Andrea Adamo: “So far, we have shown that the team has done a very good job in preparing the rally, but we have done only a small slice of the job that awaits us this weekend. The first two stages have shown the real face of Monte-Carlo with very difficult conditions. That has tested the time and tension of everyone to the limit. I would like to thank the hard work and good calls from the weather crews, the engineers and our meteorologist that allowed our crews to make the best tyre choices across two stages with varied and tricky conditions. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

Friday at a glance

• Six stages make up Friday’s itinerary at Rallye Monte-Carlo, totalling 122.58km
• A repeat loop of three stages – Curbans–Venterol (20.02km), Saint-Clément–Freissinières (20.68km), Avançon–Notre-Dame-du-Laus (20.59km) – will be separated by a lunchtime service in Gap.
• The longest individual leg of the four-day event sees crews cover variations of last year’s stages in the south-east and east of Gap, across over one-third of the rally’s competitive distance.

Classification after Day One

Press release Hyundai Motorsport ; picture : Jean-Baptiste Lassaux/Sport-Auto.ch