The pre-event tests are well under way during this week but not all tests are going as planned, as heavy snow forecast have now forced the Hyundai Motorsport to tweak their testing ahead of the upcoming Croatia Rally.
The team did their first test with Ott Tänak on Friday last week with normal conditions on the asphalt roads but over the weekend most parts of Europe was struct with snow and caused some problems for the teams in Croatia.
As it was Thierry Neuville’s turn to do his pre-event test on Saturday in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1, the test had to be delayed as snow fell over the roads nearby Zagreb.
However, the weather got better for Sunday when it was time for Oliver Solberg to have his test day and Neuville was up next on Monday delayed with two days, and completed the testing without any issues.
“We had our first test day for Croatia Rally on Friday with Ott [Tänak] in normal conditions, but then – like almost everywhere in Europe – the weather conditions started to change over the weekend and made things a bit complicated.” Deputy team principal Julien Moncet told WRC.com.
“The area where we were in Croatia got hit by snow, so we had to rethink our plan as we couldn’t go ahead and do our test day on Saturday with Thierry. With the support of the local authorities and the organisers we could get authorisations and a road to run on Monday, so Thierry could drive for a day as planned.”
“Meanwhile, the weather got better and Oliver [Solberg] could run on Sunday as per our initial schedule. Thierry finally completed his test day on Monday – just two days later than planned – in good weather conditions with no issues.”
