The deputy team principal of Hyundai Motorsport, Julien Moncet, says that Ott Tanak's victory at Rally Italia Sardegna is a big relief for the team after the difficulties they faced earlier this season, but admits that there is still a work to do for the rest of 2022.
The Korean team did not have a dream start in 2022 as it faced many reliability issues with the hybrid unit and the suspension components.
Last but not least, it was obvious in the previous events that Hyundai i20N Rally1 was not at the same level as the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 and the stage wins can confirm the fact that the first one car is slower than the last one.
However, Ott Tanak won nine stages in Sardinia and claimed a dominant win in the Italian island as his gap from the second Craig Breen was over a minute.
Finally, it must be mentioned that Hyundai worked hard during the season break at the end of Rally Croatia to solve its reliability issues and to improve the performance of i20N.
"It is a big relief for me, for the drivers, for the whole team in Sardinia, as well as in team headquarters Alzenau", Moncet said.
"In such a difficult start of the season, such a difficult situation inside the team and so on, now here we are.
"We knew the drivers never given and now we have shown as well that as a team, we never give up.
"It looked so far away but in the end it was just yesterday.
"What a change.
"We were really nowhere, such a horrible weekend and now I’m talking about going to open some champagne bottle tonight.
"We knew it would be possible but it’s always better when it happens for real.
"Obviously we should be honest with ourselves: there is still a lot of work to do and we will keep pushing.
"But right now it’s a celebration day and it gives us a lot of motivation".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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