WRC – Hyundai Motorsport’s struggles continued on the penultimate day of Wales Rally GB

Hyundai Motorsport has battled through an unrewarding day at Wales Rally GB, the 11^th round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship, as the title battle took another dramatic turn.

Heading into Saturday’s action in second place, Thierry Neuville suffered an early blow. The Belgian ended up in a ditch on the second stage of the morning, losing 50 seconds and six places on the overall classification. He ended the day in eighth as one of his title rivals Ott Tänak retired and the other, Sébastien Ogier, inherited the rally lead.

Meanwhile, Andreas Mikkelsen made the most of being first on the road in tricky conditions to move up to sixth place overall. The Norwegian took three stage wins to close in on the top-five by the end of the penultimate day. Hayden Paddon had another largely trouble-free day to sit seventh.

Saturday’s punishing itinerary covered nine stages over a total distance of 150km. Crews did not have the luxury of lunchtime service, instead just a remote tyre fitting zone at Newtown following runs through Myherin (20.28km), Sweet Lamb Hafren (19.95km), Dyfi (19.48km), Gartheiniog (11.26km) and Dyfnant (8.30km). The four opening stages were repeated in the afternoon loop where tyre choice and drying conditions dictated proceedings under sunnier skies.

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

• First on the road on Saturday
• Three stage wins helped the Norwegian crew close on the top-five

Mikkelsen said: “It has been a really good day – we are going in the right direction. I’ve been happy with the car today; it has been very nice to drive, stable and predictable. Being first on the road helped a bit this morning, but the conditions were surprisingly dry and improving as the day went on. We didn’t quite have the full advantage that we were hoping for. We had clean runs, making no mistakes and picked up three stage wins too. We’re too far from the front-runners to catch much time but anything can happen. We’ve tried to give it a bit of a push but without going crazy and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Crew Notes: Paddon/ Marshall (#6 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Second fastest on morning’s opening stage
• Kiwi and British co-driver Seb Marshall found good feeling in their Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

Paddon said: “We have had another clean day with no real problems. The car has felt good on most of the stages, although we were missing some traction at times. Overall, I have been happy with the balance and have felt comfortable and in control. It has been closely fought throughout the day so we have been searching for very small improvements. We will continue to find some gains on Sunday morning with five stages still to run and important points up for grabs.”

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

• Excursion into a ditch dropped Belgians to eighth overall
• Refocus on championship battle after mixed fortunes for title rivals

Neuville said: “Our targets for today were completely overturned after our off early in the morning loop. The grip level caught me out and I went off. It’s part of the game when you are pushing as hard as we do all the time. Of course it is a shame, and we’ve paid for it, but we won’t give up. Even with that mistake we have had a tough day with our tyre choice.  As we have seen, anything can happen anytime so we just have to keep going and see what happens. If we can make up a few positions tomorrow, and score some Power Stage points, that would be ideal.”

Pain and gain

Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “It has been another one of those frustrating days that seem to be a frequent character of our rally weekends lately. Thierry’s off this morning put a stop to his podium charge. It is rare that he makes mistakes and shows just how on the limit he is in this year’s title fight. Andreas had a more positive day with three stage wins but otherwise it has been another disappointing one for our team. We need to dig deep for the final morning and perform like a team that wants to be in the championship fight.”

Sunday at a glance

• Five special stages remain on the final morning of Wales Rally GB, including the Power Stage which will be run as the second timed test on Sunday
• The 10.06km Elsi test will get the action underway at 7.22am before Gwydir plays host to the Power Stage and then the first run through Great Orme Llandudno
• Both those latter stages will be repeated after a tyre-fitting zone at Dolgarrog to bring the 11^th round of the 2018 WRC season to a conclusion.

Classification after Day Two  

Press release Hyundai Motorsport