The team principal of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, says that his team's second 1-2-3 finish at Acropolis Rally is not a coincidence, but was caused by their determination and by playing the long game last week.
The Alzenau-based team secured its maiden 1-2-3 finish at Acropolis Rally two years ago and it was their first triple podium in World Rally Championship. They repeated this success last weekend with Thierry Neuville winning in Greece for a second time while Dani Sordo and Ott Tanak exchanged their places considering the podium of 2022. Their weekend was not perfect as Neuville's i20N was running with three cylinders on Friday morning and faced some brake issues in SS6, but he managed to finish at the top step of the podium taking advantage over his rivals' problems and his performance was remarkable considering his road position on Friday. On the other hand, Sordo mentioned some problems with the hybrd unit in Stage 4 while he dropped from first to second at the end of Stage 9 as he had a right rear delaminated tyre. Finally, Tanak had the chance to get closer to Neuville on the championship standings as the Estonian was leading Acropolis Rally until Stage 7 where he had to stop twice in oder to change two punctures while he faced some engine issues in Stage 13. In addition to that, he lost time in Powerstage due to a front left puncture. At the end of Acropolis Rally, Hyundai increased further its lead over Toyota as their gap is now 35 points with three rounds remaining until the season finale.
"Two years after locking out the podium at Acropolis Rally, we do it again on Sunday", Abiteboul said.
"It is hard to know whether this is a coincidence or a sign of our determination to shine at this event, which is a true test for the crews, the team and the car.
"It has not been a perfect weekend.
"We had to face a number of challenges, including punctures that frustrated our very strong result from Friday.
"Yet we remained focused, kept our head down, and played the long game.
"We weren’t too greedy, and once again our balanced strategy played out very nicely for us.
"It is a true team effort to have this full Hyundai Motorsport podium; it obviously extends our lead in the standings, however, championships are one thing and the emotions of a win like this one are something else, so for now that is what we celebrate tonight and back at the factory later this week".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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