The team principal and the CEO of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, says that his team needs to maintain their lead in all three championships and a clean performance at Central European Rally while he is optimistic on his drivers' performances.
The Alzenau-based team is still leading the championship at the end of Rally Chile, but Toyota managed to close its gap from the first place and now they are 17 from 30 points before the start of Central European Rally. Neuville was the winner of last year's version of CER while Tanak finished at the lowest place of the podium with the Ford Puma Rally1 in 2023. On the other hand, Andreas Mikkelsen has done only three outings with the Hyundai i20N Rally1 so far this season from which he participated on tarmac twice as his contract with the team included his appearance on these road conditions. This means that the Norwegian will return back to the tarmac since Croatia Rally, which was held last April, but the most important thing is that his rivals have more experience with their Rally1 cars on tarmac rallies compared to him. Central European Rally will be held on October 17-20 and will include 18 stages.
"The whole team is very excited to competing on home soil again, especially as we are now at the crucial point of the season", Abiteboul said.
"We need to maintain our lead in all three championships, and a clean performance at Central European Rally is essential in eventually bringing them home.
"Thierry won here last year, and we know how strong he is on tarmac, so anything is possible across the weekend.
"As well as the push for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles, we also have the fight for the manufacturers’, and we have three strong crews fighting for that too.
"Ott finished third here last year, and we know tarmac is a surface that Andreas can push on, particularly following his WRC2 title win at the event in 2023.
"We want to leave CER having taken advantage of our road positions and made the most of the weekend – something we could not do in Chile".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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