The team principal and the CEO of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, says that his team is considering the fact to withdraw i20N Rally2 from WRC2 class in 2025, but they will continue developing this car for ERC and the regional rallies despite the fact that the production of i20 will be discontinued next year.
Hyundai has announced that the production of i20 will be discontinued in 2025, but the Koreans will keep competing with the i20N at the top class next year. However, this is a crucial period for Hyundai Motorsport as the team has yet to confirm its future plans, but Abiteboul does not exclude the possibility of their competing in both WEC and WRC in 2025. In addition to that, Hyundai has already developed a LMDh prototype car in which they will take part in WEC and will race in LeMans 24h within three years while their WRC future is unknown as they want another manufacturer to join World Rally Championship from 2027 onwards when the new regulations will be applied. Although Hyundai Motorsport established a new WRC2 programme a year ago, the "Hyundai Motorsport Driver development Programme", and confirmed Teemu Suninen and Emil Lindholm as its drivers, both of them sealed a five-rally campaign with a private team for this year which is running the i20N Rally2 cars. Last but not least, it must be mentioned that the drivers do not prefer competing with the i20N Rally2 in WRC2 class as the Korean car is less competitive than the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 and the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, thus it has great success in ERC and in national rallies.
"Developing a new Rally2 is something in the past because, simply, the regulations are also coming to the end of the cycle", Abiteboul said.
"On top of that, it’s also true that our car, the i20, is going to be discontinued in a few months from now – well, next year – but we have a bit of time so we are going through a very extensive testing program for the Rally2.
"We know that we are on the back foot in terms of performance, competitiveness, reliability.
"I’m not saying that we will want to address absolutely everything, but we have a clear plan.
"We have clear targets.
"We have clear objectives.
"And we’ve got a clear plan to make that happen.
"We think in particular that the car has big potential in Tarmac.
"I believe that the car is still leading in ERC, which says something about… what is the type of, you know, target, objective, market, and drivers for this car?
"Maybe there is a certain level where the car is not fit for the purpose as it is now, and that’s maybe what we will need to address in the next couple of months".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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