Hyundai Motorsport heads into WRC round four, Rally de Portugal, with more confidence after double podium finish at Rally Croatia. After a difficult start to the campaign, the entire team is focused on competing for victory on the dirt roads of the Matosinhos-based event. As the first land event of the hybrid era, Rally de Portugal will be a demanding test for the Hyundai i20 N Rally1. While it has already faced ice, snow and tarmac, the gravel presents a new challenge that will push the car and the drivers to their limits.
Portugal will be Dani Sordo’s debut with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1. All in all, Sordo has a strong Rally de Portugal record, having finished on the podium at the event five times, including second place in 2021. The Cantabrian driver and his co-driver will join forces with Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak to shape the Hyundai Motorsport lineup. The three crews will try to get familiar with the surface quickly and fight to get a good result on the portuguese stages of the WRC.
Thierry Neuville is Hyundai’s best asset: «Rally de Portugal is a very exciting event for us as drivers. There is always a big crowd of fans and a great atmosphere. The specials are beautiful, but also complicated. This is mainly due to the high temperatures, so tire wear is also important here and it can be quite harsh on the second runs. It will be our first gravel event with the new hybrid cars. We saw in Sweden that in the snow configuration the car was fast and we hope that we will be strong on gravel as well.”
Ott Tanak comes from getting on the podium in Croatia: «Portugal is a very fun rally and one that I really enjoy. It’s the first time this year we’ve competed on gravel, so this will be our first indicator of how competitive we are.. Portugal is fast, with quite a soft surface and the second loop can be hard and demanding after the first pass. Good reliability and speed are needed here to be successful. We know what it takes to win in Portugal. We hope that the momentum of our podium finish in Croatia will continue with a strong result next weekend.”
dani deaf he affirms before his first event with a ‘Rally1’: «Portugal is always very beautiful, so I’m happy to debut there this season.. I have achieved two podiums with Hyundai here in the past. There are usually many spectators who travel from Spain and the support is fantastic. I’m excited to drive the car on dirt for the first time. I hope to have a good rhythm and quickly adapt to this new challenge. It won’t be easy, as the other drivers have done three rallies, so I hope the feeling with the car will come quickly.”
Photos: hyundai motorsport