Hyundai Motorsport customer results round-up bulletin

• Hyundai Motorsport WRC2 driver Teemu Suninen set strong stage times on his first start of the season at Rally Sweden, taking sixth in class aboard his i20 N Rally2
• i20 N Rally2 driver Georg Linnamäe topped the RC2 class at the Otepää talveralli in Estonia, using the event as part of his preparation for Rally Sweden, where he finished fourth in WRC2
• Brothers Sam and Josh Moffett finished on the podium at the Galway International Rally, where Sam gave the i20 N Rally2 the fastest time on its very first competitive stage in Ireland.

Alzenau, Germany

Crews with the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 and i20 R5 have taken excellent results on winter rallies in both Europe and the USA in recent weeks. Our official WRC2 season started on the snow and ice of Rally Sweden, where Teemu Suninen showed great pace, but it was Estonian Georg Linnamäe who led the i20 N Rally2 runners in the final standings. In his home country he had already scored a class victory at a national event in preparation for the WRC round. Elsewhere, there were double class podiums for Hyundai Motorsport customers on the aptly named Sno*Drift Rally in the USA, and on the stages of the Galway International Rally, which opened the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship season.

i20 N Rally2 runners show great pace on Swedish snow

On his first start of the season Teemu Suninen finished sixth in WRC2 at Rally Sweden (February 9-12). The Hyundai Motorsport driver was able to take his i20 N Rally2 to a succession of good times on the snow and ice. The Finn repeatedly showed he, co-driver Mikko Markkula and their car had the pace to compete at the very front of the class. However, a small problem on one of Friday afternoon’s stages left him down on power and lost him nearly two minutes to the leaders.

Fortunately, the problem was quickly resolved to allow him to climb back up the order, eventually taking the points for sixth. His team-mate, Fabrizio Zaldivar, was running in the top ten before being one of many drivers to drop time after drifting into a snowbank. He finished the event with his best time of the rally – 14^th overall and second among the WRC2 Challenger crews – to take 15^th in WRC2 and eighth in the Challenger category for less experienced drivers.

Both drivers, though, finished behind Estonian Georg Linnamäe. Alongside co-driver James Morgan he was supremely consistent on the slippery stages in his i20 N Rally2 – avoiding the costly mistakes that cost several crews a chance at a strong result. Like Zaldivar, he achieved his best times at the end of the weekend, including fourth fastest in class on the Power Stage to secure fourth in WRC2 and second among the WRC2 Challenger-eligible crews.

Excellent pace secures national victory in Estonia
 
i20 N Rally2 driver Georg Linnamäe led his class, and all the entries eligible for the national championship, at the Otepää talveralli (February 4) in Estonia. He was the fastest of the Rally2 drivers on all-but-one of the eight stages as he and co-driver James Morgan used the event as part of their preparation for the WRC2 contest at Rally Sweden. Their pace allowed them to hold second overall throughout, behind another crew – in a Rally1-spec car – using the weekend as a warm-up for the snow and ice of Umeå.

Hyundai Motorsport customers start Irish season with Double podium
 
Brothers Sam and Josh Moffett got their Irish Tarmac Rally Championship campaigns off to strong starts at the Galway International Rally (February 4-5). The event was the first in the country for the i20 N Rally2, with Sam behind the wheel, while Josh was in the i20 R5 that took him to the 2022 title.
 
Though he only had a short test’s worth of experience in the new machine it was Sam who started fastest – setting the best time on the opening stage. It was the beginning of a remarkable opening day for the two Hyundai drivers. Between them they won seven of the eight stages run, including a clean sweep of the final loop for Josh that secured him the lead overnight.
 
Unfortunately, tricky conditions on the second day caught both Moffetts out, as they searched for the right set-up on the slippery tarmac roads. Though Josh lost the lead, he was able to hold onto an important second place, with Sam completing the podium in third and very happy with the performance of the new car.

i20 R5 drivers take class podiums in first US events with the car
 
Two i20 R5 drivers scored class podiums at the Sno*Drift Rally (February 10-11) in the USA. The opening round of the national American Rally Association series, the Michigan-based competition marked the debut in the car for Patrick Gruszka and the second run as a Hyundai Motorsport customer, following a one-off appearance last season, for Kyle Tilley. Both drivers were consistent throughout the event, putting themselves in contention for overall and class podiums. In fact, the best time of the RC2 entries on the penultimate stage put Tilley at the head of the class, though he and co-driver Martin Brady would drop back to second, and third overall, in the final results as they opted for a conservative approach to the Power Stage.
 
Gruszka, in his first rally in an RC2-spec car was on the pace straight away and took deserved reward, as he completed the class podium in fourth place overall.

Consistent pace from i20 N Rally2 driver on Finnish snow
 
The Finnish national championship continued at SM-Ralli Kuopio (February 3-4). In his i20 N Rally2 Riku Tahko once more had strong pace on the event – the second, and final, winter rally of the season in the country. Four times he was sixth fastest in the premier SM1 class of the domestic contest and though he lost some time to a stall on the start line of SS2, he was able to recover back up the overall standings to finish sixth – all the time learning about, and honing the set-up on, his new machine.

Strong performance secures overall victory in Spain
 
In Spain, Surhayen Pernía scored overall victory on the Rally Lloret de Mar (February 10-11). The i20 N Rally2 driver was either fastest, or in second place on every one of the ten competitive stages run. As a result, he led for much of the event, including throughout the second day, as he stretched his overall lead to over 14 seconds before the end.
 
O’Donovan claims second on Snetterton event
 
Irishman Ollie O’Donovan finished an impressive second on the Snetterton Stages Rally (February 11) with co-driver Ashleigh Morris in an Albatec Racing-run i20 R5.  Renewed confidence on a new set of tyres for SS3 bought the former British Rallycross champion three fastest times from the six remaining stages to help them move from fourth after the opener onto the podium.

Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Manager Andrea Cisotti said: “Customers with both the Hyundai i20 R5 and the i20 N Rally2 have shown superb speed on the recent snow and ice rallies. The surface is one of the toughest in the sport so the results from these contests, including the start of our official WRC2 campaign in Sweden, are a great achievement for the teams and crews involved and proof of the strength and performance of their Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing-built cars. These finishes, and the podiums we have already seen on the tarmac rallies in Ireland, Spain and the UK, should mean that all the team can look ahead to the events that make up the rest of the season full of confidence in both themselves and their cars.”