Teemu Suninen from Finland and Fabrizio Zaldivar from Paraguay will continue to drive in the 2023 WRC2 season for Hyundai Motorsport N, the team presented their venture on Monday, and after finishing second in the team´s championship, they will be building on that for the season start that will take place in Rally Sweden next month with the full entry list to be published later on Monday afternoon.
Suninen demonstrated the capabilities of the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 by winning the final round of the season he participated in at RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada 2022 and also finished on the podium on two occasions in Estonia and Japan.
“I’m thrilled to be returning to Hyundai Motorsport for another season in WRC2. 2023 will be challenging, but we definitely have a lot of potential in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. I’m confident we can win more rallies and be a serious contender for the title this year. We need to push ourselves and the car in order to be competing at the front in every event, but I can see everyone in the team is willing to do that to achieve the results we deserve. We know the car much better this year than last, so it’s exciting to think where we can take it.” Suninen said.
Zaldivar´s did his first season in the WRC2 last year and it was used as a learning season to gain some experience. The Paraguayan native managed to take two stage wins and finished four rallies within the top ten.
“This season I hope to improve my results as well as continue the good practices we built as a team last year. I know the Hyundai i20 Rally2 very well now, which will help put us on the front foot as we start a new season. The gravel events are the ones that come more naturally to me, however I made some good progress on tarmac last year too. It will be interesting to start on snow this season, but it is a challenge I am looking forward to. I believe this season will be my best to date, and I’m really hoping for some standout results to help the team win the title.” Zaldivar said.
It will be the French team 2C Competition that will run the factory’s investment, they will now take over after Estonian team RedGrey leaves the task since the team owner Ott Tänak left Hyundai to join M-Sport Ford WRT for this season. The team has already been closely tied to Hyundai, running for a couple of seasons some private Hyundai i20 WRC entries for drivers like Pierre-Louis Loubet and Oliver Solberg, and last year running an i20 WRC for Ken Block, who sadly passed away earlier this year, in the American Rally Association.
The team has already announced they will take on Rally Croatia after Sweden followed by Rally de Portugal, Rally Italia Sardegna, Rally Estonia, Rally Finland, and Rally Chile during the 2023 season.
