The team principal of Hyundai Motorsport, Andrea Adamo, says that the real potential of the brand new Rally2 car was not been seen at Ypres Rally Belgium as he adviced his drivers to slow down their pace.
The Korean team presented the brand new i20 N R5 in Belgium for the first time with Oliver Solberg and Jari Huttunen being behing the wheel.
However, Solberg was leading in WRC2 category, but he faced problems with his steering wheel on Saturday and it was difficult for him to turn a corner, so his co-driver, Aaron Johnston, helped him with the handbrake.
The problems for him did not stop there as he was forced to retire on Sunday before rally action began due to the fact that the engine of his i20 did not start and he could not leave from service park to go to the stages.
Moreover, Huttunen was in second position overall and he stole the lead from Solberg as the last one retired.
The Finn driver faced the same problems on the last day as Solberg and he had no steering wheel throughout the circuit stages.
"When you debut and win, it’s always good", Adamo told DirtFish when he asked for his assessment of the new car’s debut.
"It’s true that I’m trying to be serious always and it’s difficult just to say how I feel.
"I asked the drivers, on the first day especially, to go through the stages.
"They never did Ypres before, it’s a brand new car, they did good times, and then all of a sudden we found ourselves in the lead with a huge margin because someone else has a problem.
"Once you are there, I told my drivers to not even put the car into fourth gear.
"You are 1-2, etc.
"It’s what we have to do.
"So I think that we never saw the performance of the car here.
"You can say they are fast, but we are here for WRC2.
"Not to show the car’s performance.
"I could have put in a local special driver who knows the roads upside down.
"So we were here for another reason, also to gain experience on it.
"We had an issue in the steering hoses that we never had before.
"Of course if we had, we would have sorted before.
"You know me, I’m not here playing cards.
"And finally we won WRC2, so good.
"But if you ask me: are you happy with what you have seen?
"How can I be happy with something that came out of the sky without fighting for it?"
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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