The wait has been long, but the hybrid era of the WRC is already a reality. It is true that the official presentation of the new ‘Rally1’ vehicles will take place this Saturday, January 15, and it will not be until days later when they officially debut in the Monte Carlo Rally. But nevertheless, the new ‘Rally1’ have already been homologated and are completing their latest tests before the first rally of the WRC 2022. Almost in parallel, Hyundai, Toyota and M-Sport have searched the roads of the French Alps for the latest tests before measuring forces in the sections of ‘Monte’.
Hyundai Motorsport started its test with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 this Monday, with the Estonian Ott Tänak at his controls. Belgian Thierry Neuville took the baton from his partner at the controls of the South Korean ‘Rally1’ this Tuesday in a test session in which the team found snow and ice, even if it is the formation that has located its center of operations further south. Oliver Solberg is expected to complete this test session, in order to bring Hyundai’s three starting drivers to Rally Monte Carlo with a test day in the week leading up to the event.
Toyota Gazoo Racing started its test in parallel to Hyundai, albeit in a more northern location. Kalle Rovanperä was the first Toyota driver to get on the Japanese firm’s ‘Rally1’ and he could check the performance of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 on snow and ice on the sections chosen by the brand’s test team. In fact, Rovanperä had to deal with very delicate conditions, similar to those that can be found in the Monte Carlo Rally itself according to the forecasts. Sébastien Ogier was in charge of driving Toyota’s ‘Rally1’ during the day on Tuesday.
M-Sport was the last team to start this test session in the week before Rally Monte Carlo. It was this Tuesday with Adrien Fourmaux at the wheel of the Ford Puma Rally1. It is expected that in the following days, the Cumbrian preparer’s ‘Rally1’ will also be brought to the helm by his other two available starting drivers, namely Gus Greensmith and Craig Breen. Will not be in this test session Sébastien Loeb, still present at the Dakar with the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team. In fact, the Frenchman is immersed in the fight for the ‘Touareg’ with the BRX Hunter T1 +.