WRC – Dani Sordo claimed three stage wins to move up to second overall

Hyundai Motorsport is involved in a thrilling battle for the podium positions in this weekend’s Rallye Deutschland, the ninth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), with Dani Sordo moving up to second overall on Saturday.

The Spaniard will begin the final day of the team’s home rally just 0.8-seconds ahead of a hard-charging Jari-Matti Latvala, with his own Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team colleague Thierry Neuville not far behind in fourth. 

Sordo, along with co-driver Carlos del Barrio, stormed to three stage wins on the penultimate day of the event with particularly impressive performances on the military roads of Panzerplatte. At 38.57km, the longest individual stage of the weekend saw our #6 car crew move from sixth to fourth in the morning loop, and then from fourth to second in the afternoon.

Crews contested a quartet of stages on Saturday with Arena Panzerplatte (9.43km) preceding the main Panzerplatte test. The 14.78km Freisen and 12.28km Römerstrasse stages completed the loop, which was repeated following lunchtime service.

Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger moved up to sixth place after another character building day but with Sébastien Ogier just 0.5-seconds behind after the Frenchman experienced trouble in the afternoon loop.

Crew Notes: Sordo/Del Barrio (#6 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Three stage wins (SS9 / 13 Panzerplatte, SS12 Arena Panzerplatte)
• Second place overall as the Spaniard chases third podium of 2018

Sordo said: “All in all, it has been a competitive day for us and it’s encouraging to be involved in such an exciting fight for the podium in the team’s home rally. We have taken three stage wins and have pushed really hard throughout the day, I felt really comfortable and competitive in the Panzerplatte stages, getting absolutely everything out of the car. We struggled a bit in some other stages, especially in the morning, but we couldn’t do more. Jari-Matti closed the gap a lot on the final stage, after I lost quite a lot of time, so we will be focused on defending our position from him on Sunday morning.” 

Crew Notes: Neuville/Gilsoul (#5 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Belgian crew holds fourth overall, 8s from podium
• Priority on clean finish to the rally to consolidate championship lead

Neuville said: “We have to accept that we haven’t really been on the pace today. We have struggled with the handling of the car, and have had to be careful not to push too much because we know how easy it is to make a critical mistake. There’s a lot to think about so we have to remain calm and just do what we can. I didn’t do some of these stages last year, so we have been using Dani as a reference and have to be satisfied, even if we’re not completely happy.” 

Crew Notes: Mikkelsen/Jæger (#4 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Norwegians continued to make adjustments to car and driving style
• Involved in close fight for sixth place

Mikkelsen said: “It has been another challenging day, that’s for sure, but we have fought hard and continued to find out little things which we can use to improve. All the stages have their own characteristics so we have had to continue trying and evaluating different driving styles. We have been working closely with the team and I’ve tried to be more aggressive with the handbrake. We want to be fighting for better results than we are currently. The time sheets don’t make for good reading but we are taking steps and that is the most important thing right now.”

Home improvements

Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “Dani and Carlos have been one of the standout crews today with three stage wins and moving up to second place overall. They have had a few difficult stages as well, but have put themselves in strong contention for their third podium of the season. The battle for second is incredibly close, with Thierry and Nicolas not far behind in fourth. Our Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC clearly has potential on these tricky tarmac stages but there is still performance to be found. Our engineers have worked incredibly hard to support all of our crews today, and we will continue to push as we face an exciting conclusion to our home rally.” 

Sunday at a glance

• Two runs through the gruelling 29.07km Grafschaft stage make up the bulk of Sunday’s schedule, offering no respite for crews and teams.
• The 14.97km Bosenberg test will act as the rally concluding Power Stage.

  Classification after Day Two  

Press release Hyundai Motorsport