After a difficult start for the Hyundai Motorsport team in the new Rally1 hybrid era in FIA World Rally Championship at Rallye Monte-Carlo last month, the team is hoping for a better result this weekend as they have prepared for Rally Sweden.
Rally Sweden, which have been a regular addition to the WRC schedule since the start in 1973, will be moved further north for this season and onwards to Umeå after the old Torsby location couldn’t provide enough snow. Last season the rally was replaced by the Finnish Arctic Lapland Rally.
Hyundai Motorsport moved their test location from Germany over to Finland, they have run tests using similar roads and conditions as in Sweden.
Deputy Team Director Julien Moncet hopes the new improved package for Sweden will bring home a better result: “Since Rallye Monte-Carlo, the entire team has been working incredibly hard to make improvements to our package, and we look forward to show a better performance at Rally Sweden. We are still finding our feet with the new hybrid regulations, and our pre-event test has helped prepare for the wintry roads of Umeå.”
The team’s drivers of Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Oliver Solberg will be chasing down the first podium finish of the season after missing out with two did not finish results in Monte-Carlo as they are looking to extract the full performance of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 over the gruelling event.
“Our three crews know what it takes to be competitive in the snow, so we are focusing all our energy on bringing home all cars after a disappointing opening round. We must expect we will come up against some obstacles, but we will be striving for a competitive rally that culminates in a strong result in Sweden.” Moncet added.
Rally Sweden starts on Thursday with the shakedown before the actual rally starts on Friday with two runs on three stages.
