The team principal and the CEO of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, says that there is no room for mistakes at Acropolis Rally Greece if they want to maintain their lead in all three standings and wants his drivers to score as many points as possible on the final two days of the rally.
Hyundai Motorsport managed to increase its championship lead over Toyota from one to twenty points at the end of Rally Finland taking advantage over Kalle Rovanpera's and Elfyn Evans's crashes in Stage 19 at the eighth WRC round. In addition to that, Thierry Neuville had a perfect weekend in Finland, as he stayed out of trouble and finished second overall despite his road position on Friday, but the most important is that Ott Tanak's and Evans's retirements favored the Belgian's title WRC bid. More specifically, Neuville was ahead of Tanak and Evans for eight and 13 points at the end of Rally Latvia while now he has left them behind for more than 30 points. However, it must be mentioned that Sebastien Ogier is the closest rival to Neuville as their margin is at 27 points, but Tanak and Evans will have a better road position at Acropolis Rally next Friday. Last but not least, Hyundai secured its first 1-2-3 finish in World Rally Championship in Greece two years ago with Neuville, Tanak and Dani Sordo and is going to compete with the same driver line-up again this year.
"Following a very mixed weekend in Finland, we are going to Greece searching for improved results as a team", Abiteboul said.
"Of course we want to win the rally, however crucially we need to be at the top of the standings on Saturday and take as many points as possible from Super Sunday.
"It is vital that we keep our focus at event like this: we cannot afford to make any mistakes, both with strategy and on the stages.
"Our pre-event test was essential for getting our three crews into the rhythm for the rough gravel, and we are confident that the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid is ready to take on Greece’s demanding stages.
"We’ve demonstrated the improved performance of the car at fast gravel events, and now our goal is to finish strong at Acropolis Rally and maintain our lead in all three standings".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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