Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT has today revealed the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 for 2023, the livery will remain unchanged from last season but some aerodynamics have been spotted on the renders.
In December, the team was spotted testing out a new rear wing for the car in Finland and now when the car was revealed, you can see the wing is different from the last season.
This year, Thierry Neuville will celebrate his 10th anniversary driving for the South Korean manufacturer and will continue to be the lead driver within the team but for this season he has got a new full-time teammate as Ott Tänak left to join M-Sport Ford WRT at the end of last year.
Taking over Tänak’s seat will be Esapekka Lappi who left Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT to join Hyundai, the two will be the only full-time drivers taking on the 13 round calendar in 2023. Joining beside them will be Dani Sordo who is sharing the third car with Craig Breen and he has returned to the team after being with M-Sport for one season last year.
So far it is known Sordo will race the opening round next weekend in Rallye Monte-Carlo and he will contest a total of seven rounds while Breen is going for six. The team has not yet announced a new team principal, it is rumored the former Renault Formula 1 team principal Cyril Abiteboul will take over the charge from the current deputy team principal Julien Moncet.
“Last year was one of the most challenging for us as a team, yet perhaps also one of the most rewarding. Working with a new set of technical regulations and building our first-ever hybrid car was no easy feat. Although we had a difficult start to the season, we rose up, regrouped, and kept pushing ourselves; as a result, we were the top-performing team in the second half of the year and we finished on an incredible high.” Sean Kim, Hyundai Motorsport President, said.
“Now, the slate may be wiped clean, but we see 2023 as a continuation of the chapter we started in 2022. We have a competitive package in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid, a line-up of crews hungry to fight for the titles, and a hard-working team behind the scenes ready to carry the momentum from one season to the next.”
