WRC – Thierry Neuville completed Friday’s itinerary in third place overall

Hyundai Motorsport has made a cautious start to its home event, Rallye Deutschland, with FIA World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville holding third place after the opening seven stages.

The ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) heralds a return to tarmac for the first time since Tour de Corse back in April, where the team struggled for pace with its Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. An intensive period of testing and development has allowed the team to make some improvements to the car’s performance on the surface, with Neuville regularly inside the top-three on the German stages.

Following Thursday evening’s short Super Special at St. Wendel, Friday’s schedule covered two loops of three stages – Stein und Wein (19.44km), Mittelmosel (22km) and Wadern-Weiskirchen (9.27km). In tricky conditions, crews negotiated dusty roads through the Mosel valley, including Germany’s iconic vineyard routes.

Returning for his first WRC event since Rally de Portugal in May, Dani Sordo is involved in a close battle for fourth overall despite struggling for pace during the opening day. Similarly, Andreas Mikkelsen has had a tough Friday and holds ninth overall. The Norwegian found improved pace in the afternoon loop after making adjustments to the car at lunchtime service.

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

• Minor scare with oil leak on road section in morning loop, which was fixed with no time loss
• First on the road, and regularly inside the top-three stage times

Neuville said: “I think we have done all we could today with no real mistakes. We had one minor problem this morning, which we were able to resolve and we can reflect on a safe start to this rally. In the morning loop we took the safer option with two spare tyres, and lost some time because of the extra weight. It was also quite dusty. It’s been difficult to match the times of Ott and Seb, but we are in the podium fight, which is good. I am not in the mood to take big risks being in the lead of the championship.” 

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

• First WRC event since Rally de Portugal in May
• Close battle for the top-four with five seconds separating fourth to seventh positions

Sordo said: “It has been a difficult start to the rally for us. I wasn’t particularly happy on the morning loop and struggled to find grip. We have continued to push as hard as possible but the times at the front are very quick and we haven’t been able to match them. We have suffered with understeer and just haven’t been able to get into the required rhythm. The stages tomorrow will give us a different tarmac challenge, so we will continue to do what we can. The fight for fourth place is very close!” 

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

• Norwegians found improvements on the afternoon loop after morning struggles
• Close times inside the top-ten offer opportunities to gain positions on Saturday

Mikkelsen said: “We have spent the day working hard on adapting my driving style as well as making some adjustments to the car. It was clear during the morning loop that I had to be more aggressive on the steering. We looked closely at the situation at service, and my engineer did a great job to help us make improvements. The afternoon was definitely a step in the right direction. Changing my style of driving after ten years is not the work of a moment but I hope we can continue in this way for the remainder of the weekend.”

Adopting a sensible strategy

Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “It’s no secret that our attention is on the championship and doing everything we can to preserve our lead. We have made some improvements in our tarmac performance but are still missing some pace to some of our rivals. We have to avoid the temptation to take unnecessary risks. Thierry has followed this strategy today and is in third position. Dani and Andreas have both struggled, but we are hopeful they will be able to unlock some performance as the weekend progresses. We have to take an intelligent approach to the final rallies of the season, but also not underestimate the performance of our competitors.”

Saturday at a glance

• The Rallye Deutschland schedule moves onto military roads on Saturday with the notorious Panzerplatte offering a stern challenge.
• The 38.57km stage is the longest individual test of the weekend, with the car-breaking Hinkelsteins lining the route.
• In total, crews will tackle eight stages – a repeat loop of Arena Panzerplatte (9.43km), Panzerplatte (38.57km), Freisen (14.78km) and Römerstrasse (12.28km).

 Classification after Day One  

Press release Hyundai Motorsport