WRC - Thierry Neuville holds third place at the end of Friday

Hyundai Motorsport has positioned itself firmly in the fight for honours at the conclusion of a turbulent opening day at Rally Turkey, round 11 of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

The rocky Turkish stages proved, once again, to offer an unforgiving test for the WRC crews with tyre choice and car management just as critical as outright performance. Following a short 2km Super Special Stage on Thursday evening, Friday’s itinerary covered over half the total rally distance at 159.14km. The 24.85km Içmeler, 38.15km Çetibeli and 16.57km Ula stages were each run twice with the afternoon loop adding wet conditions into an already challenging mix loop. Hyundai Motorsport’s three crews – Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul, Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger-Amland and Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio – all experienced highs and lows during the day but were able to showcase the potential of the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC with some eye-catching times. Neuville and Mikkelsen had claimed a joint stage win on Thursday evening’s opening Super Special with the Norwegian crew going onto battle for the early lead on Friday’s first loop. Neuville added a second stage win during the afternoon run through Çetibeli – an incident filled stage which ended in wet conditions – to move up four places to third overall. Mikkelsen, however, struggled in the repeat loop and dropped down to fifth overall. Sordo lost considerable time on the morning’s opening stage due to a front-right puncture that hampered his progress. However, the Spanish crew persevered to set an astonishing time in the final run of the day, Ula 2. They claimed a dominant stage win to move up to sixth place overall. Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (#11 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

Two stage wins (jointly in SS1 with Mikkelsen and again in SS6)
Moved up four places on the classification with an impressive run through Çetibeli (SS6)

Neuville said: “The morning loop was certainly not the way we wanted to start our rally, especially after our joint stage win with Andreas on Thursday evening. It was just not a competitive loop for us. The car was not working as we needed it and in the cleaning conditions, starting second on the road, we lacked grip and traction. We tried hard but needed a change of fortune for the afternoon. We had a great time through SS5 but it was in the tricky conditions of SS6 where we made up some important time. We actually had a puncture before the stage so had to swap onto the softer tyres. We didn’t give it a thought, we pushed hard and the rain at the end helped us to set the fastest time to get us back in the game. This rally is far from over, but we head into Saturday in more positive spirits.”

Crew Notes: Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger-Amland (#89 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

Joint stage win with Neuville in Thursday’s Super Special
Early fight for lead but tough afternoon saw Norwegian crew fall to fifth

Mikkelsen said: “A great start to the rally turned unfortunately into an afternoon of frustration and disappointment. We were pleased to take the super special win on Thursday, and we had a competitive opening loop, clean stages and an awesome car. We were really in the fight and feeling good. It is an extremely complex rally, and you need to know when to attack and when you need to back off and take it easy. It’s so easy for something to happen. We struggled in the afternoon, especially in SS6. The conditions and tyre choice made the stage feel like ice, there was just no grip. The car was sliding and we lost a lot of time. We did our best with what we had.”

Crew Notes: Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (#6 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

Front-right puncture just 6km into SS2 lost over 40 seconds of time
Spaniards pushed on to claim sensational stage win in SS7

Sordo said: “We managed to end the day with the sort of competitive form that we knew we were capable of showing this weekend. Unfortunately, the puncture we picked up in the first stage got our rally off to the wrong start. It’s easy to get a puncture here but I didn’t even realise anything had gone wrong. We decided to try and complete the stage rather than lose the time to change tyres and that was the right call. We lost a lot of time but it could have been worse. I’m not the sort of person to hope for others to have bad luck but this a long and unpredictable rally so anything can still happen.”

Team Director Andrea Adamo: « It has been an interesting day and a solid start to Rally Turkey for our team. We had an amazing afternoon loop from Thierry and Nicolas, whose stage time in SS6 was incredible. Hats off to them. Andreas and Anders had a strong start but seemed to have some difficulties; they had a clever afternoon to keep inside the top-five. Dani and Carlos, following their early puncture, caught up positions with a fantastic final stage. All our crews have done the job we needed today, and will now have good road positions for Saturday’s running.” Saturday at a glance

Saturday’s schedule will cover six stages over a total distance of 110.10km
A loop of three timed tests – Yesilbelde (33km), Datça (8.75km) and Kizlan (13.15km) – will be run twice separated by a lunchtime service
It promises to be another endurance challenge for all crews on the unforgiving Turkish gravel roads.

Classification after Day One

1	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Citroën C3 WRC	1:59:53.7
2	S. Ogier	J. Ingrassia	Citroën C3 WRC	+17.7
3	T. Neuville	N. Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	+18.4
4	T. Suninen	J. Lehtinen	Ford Fiesta WRC	+44.4
5	A. Mikkelsen	A. Jæger-Amland	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	+1:04.1
6	D. Sordo	C. del Barrio	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	+1:25.2
7	K. Meeke	S. Marshall	Toyota Yaris WRC	+1:32.1
8	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Toyota Yaris WRC	+1:37.4
9	J.M Latvala	M. Anttila	Toyota Yaris WRC	+1:42.5
10	P. Tidemand	O. Fløene	Ford Fiesta WRC	+3:45.4