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Hyundai Motorsport Ready to Bounce Back in Rally Italia Sardegna

Hyundai Motorsport heads to Sardinia for round six of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) seeking better fortune than in Rally de Portugal last month

The team will enter four cars for the second consecutive rally with Test and Development driver Kevin Abbring joining Hayden Paddon, Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville

Sardinia will offer Hyundai Motorsport happy memories from last year’s event in which the team secured its best finish of the season with a double podium result.

June 3, 2016 - Hyundai Motorsport will be looking to return to form at next weekend’s Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), following a tough event in Portugal a few weeks ago.

The team will once again field four cars with an unchanged driver line-up from the last round. Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo will represent the Hyundai Shell World Rally Team, driving the #3 and #4 New Generation i20 WRCs, while Kevin Abbring joins Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai Mobis World Rally Team. Neuville will once again compete in the #20 New Generation i20 WRC with Abbring driving a 2015-specification Hyundai i20 WRC.

It’s been a busy time for Hyundai Motorsport. Paddon’s crash in Portugal, and the subsequent fire that ensued, resulted in his car being destroyed, so the team has had to build a brand new car from scratch. Paddon’s crew returned from Portugal earlier than the rest of the team to begin work and impressively turned around the job in just seven working days.

At the same time, the team also carried out its pre-event test in Sardinia with all four driver crews spending one full day each preparing for the event. Work centred on fine-tuning gravel suspension and car settings in anticipation for the Sardinian stages.

Returning to the coastal resort town of Alghero, where Hyundai Motorsport celebrated a double podium in 2015, Italy’s summer WRC round is a rough, rock-strewn gravel challenge that often favours a lower road position. Ambient temperatures can top 30 degrees Celsius and cause strain on engines, tyres, components and crews as the cockpits reach 50-plus over a stage.

There will be new challenges to tackle in this year’s event. Two new stages called Sassari-Argentiera and Tula feature on the itinerary, and a new Super Special Stage test close to Alghero replaces the previous rally-opener held in the south at Cagliari. Some of the remaining stages are deemed Sardinia classics, dating back to the island’s inclusion on the WRC calendar in 2004 as the new Italian venue.

The New Generation i20 WRC has proven to be competitive during the first five WRC events of this season, with podiums in Monte Carlo and Sweden and a spectacular win in Argentina. Despite taking a solid fourth in Portugal, the team will be aiming for a smoother rally in Sardinia - and be looking for a return to the podium.

Team Principal Michel Nandan said: “Despite a tough event in Portugal, we are ready for the next challenge. With just two weeks between the final day of Portugal and leaving for Sardinia, it has been hard work to build a New Generation i20 WRC but one which everyone has come together to achieve. I would like to thank everyone in the team for the hard work involved in getting us

prepared for Sardinia. There has been time to debrief on the issues we encountered in Portugal, so we are now ready to move forward as a team. We have some great memories from last year’s double podium in Sardinia. We look forward to restoring the positive momentum created by our best-ever season start as we aim for a trouble-free event for all four driver crews - and hopefully a return to the podium!”

Rally Argentina winner Paddon and co-driver John Kennard (#3 New Generation i20 WRC) endured a tough time in Portugal, after their car caught fire following an off on the opening day. The Kiwi crew will put that drama quickly behind them as they return to the scene of their debut WRC podium.

Paddon commented: “We have some very fond memories from Sardinia. It was the venue of my first rally with Hyundai Motorsport back in 2014, and then twelve months later where we scored our debut WRC podium. You never forget your first podium and we’d love to go back and get another one this year. It is a bit of a different rally this year. Day one is quite new so it means the challenge will be different, but road position can still be key. We had a hard weekend in Portugal but the accident does not dent the confidence at all - in fact we are only more determined than ever to come back fighting in Sardinia. I’d like to thank everyone in the team for getting our car ready for us. Let’s hope we can repay those efforts with a positive result.”

Sordo (#4 New Generation i20 WRC) and compatriot co-driver Marc Martí are the

most experienced of the Hyundai Motorsport crews on the Sardinian isle. After three consecutive fourth-place finishes, the Spanish crew are keen to secure their first podium of 2016.

Sordo commented: “Sardinia is always a nice event. It is really narrow in places with many stones on the sides. Road position will be an influencing factor because the first cars will be required to clean the surface. The stages will be very slippery and tricky for those cars, but that’s part of the rally. We had a good one-day test last week in preparation for this event. It’s likely to be very hot inside the cars, so it’ll be physically demanding for us drivers. We are getting more confident with the New Generation i20 WRC with each rally, and we’ve taken three fourth-placed finishes in a row. I am hoping for a trouble-free rally in

Sardinia, allowing us to show our ability to fight towards the front.”

Neuville (#20 New Generation i20 WRC) and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul were on course for a top-five finish in Portugal before their car ran out fuel. The team has fully investigated what happened and measures have been put in place to ensure the issue does not arise again. The Belgian crew will be looking for a good results in Sardinia – where they finished on the podium in third last year.

Neuville commented: “Sardinia is a very special place for me. It was the scene of my first rally some years ago with a four-wheel-drive car and after that I have scored many points there. I have finished twice on the podium, taking second in 2013 and third place with Hyundai Motorsport last year. Hopefully this year we

can secure another strong result there. After our fuelling issue in Portugal, we have fully worked through what went wrong and are ready to move forward. As a team, we’re in good spirits despite the difficulties from the last rally. We’re ready to put that behind us and fight for a representative result in Sardinia.”

Abbring (#10 Hyundai i20 WRC) and Seb Marshall will continue to gain experience in the highly competitive WRC environment during the second of their three rallies with Hyundai Motorsport this season outside of their R5 test and development programme.

Abbring commented: “I’m pleased that my next rally with the team comes so soon after Portugal. We hope to build on some of the rhythm from the last rally

and put to use the lessons learnt from our mistakes there. From the combination of fast and technical parts we were able to put everything together on some of the stages, which sets us up for this next event. This helps during recce as well for when we are writing the pace notes as you still have the feeling of the car. I’ve competed in Sardinia twice before, but it’s really rough and even rougher compared to Portugal. We have to keep an eye on the stones and focus on simply getting through each stage, but otherwise we can push a little. The target for this rally in terms of performance and in terms of speed is to step up compared to Portugal. We’re here to build our confidence, advance our learning curve, so it’s important to take each stage as it comes, get through safely and add to our knowledge bank.”

Rally Italia Sardegna is often a rally of attrition, as ruts and rocks form car-damaging hazards especially during the repeat run of each stage. Ittiri Arena Show Super Special near the service park location in Alghero will open competition on Thursday evening before eight tests on Friday in the Logudoro and Anglona regions, including the all-new Tula stage.

Monte Actuo plays host to day two in the eastern part of the north with six stages totalling a massive 177 competitive kilometres. The final day takes place just north of Alghero with the picturesque Cala Flumini coastal road and the new Sassari-Argentiera stage, which forms the event’s 6.96km Power Stage.

Hyundai Motorsport Crews’ Info

New Generation i20 WRC #3Chassis number: 006

Hayden Paddon John KennardDOB 20 April 1987 11 February 1959First WRC event 2007, Rally New Zealand 1985, Rally FinlandWRC starts 52 60WRC podiums 3 4WRC wins 1 1Rally Italia Sardegna starts

2 2

Rally Italia Sardegna 2014: 12th (10th WRC), 2014: 12th (10th WRC),

previous results 2015: 2nd 2015: 2nd


Dani Sordo Marc MartíDOB 2 May 1983 1 October 1966First WRC event 2003, Rally Catalunya 1992, Rally CatalunyaWRC starts 133 168WRC podiums 38 44WRC wins 1 3Rally Italia Sardegna starts

8 7

Rally Italia Sardegna previous results

2005: 17th (1st JWRC), 2006: 3rd, 2007: 3rd, 2008: 5th, 2009: 22nd (10th WRC), 2011: 6th, 2013: 4th, 2015: 20th (9th WRC)

2004: 3rd, 2005: 17th (1st JWRC), 2006: 3rd, 2007: 3rd, 2008: 5th, 2009: 22nd (10th WRC)


Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul

DOB 16 June 1988 5 February 1982First WRC event 2009, Rally Catalunya 2007, Rallye Monte-CarloWRC starts 64 59WRC podiums 13 13WRC wins 1 1Rally Italia Sardegna starts

5 4


2010 (IRC): 4th, 2012: 18th

(10th WRC), 2013: 2nd, 2014: 16th (11th WRC), 2015: 3rd

2012: 18th (10th WRC), 2013: 2nd, 2014: 16th (11th

WRC), 2015: 3rd

Hyundai i20 WRC #10

Chassis number: 014 (2015)

Kevin Abbring Sebastian MarshallDOB 20 January 1989 29 May 1988First WRC event 2007, Rallye Deutschland 2008, Rallye DeutschlandWRC starts 30 28WRC podiums - -WRC wins - -Rally Italia Sardegna starts

2 1


2008: Ret., 2009: Ret. 2010 (IRC): 12th (2nd A6 class)

-Ends-

About Hyundai Motorsport GmbHEstablished on 19 December 2012, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH is responsible for Hyundai’s global motorsport activities and primarily for its World Rally Championship programme. Based in Alzenau

on the outskirts of Frankfurt in Germany, the company embarked on its debut season in the FIA World Rally Championship in 2014 with a bespoke team of skilled staff and a brand new car, the Hyundai i20 WRC. The team made a strong impression in its first year claiming podium results in Mexico and Poland, as well as a memorable 1-2 in Germany. In its second season, the team was involved in a closely fought battle for second place in the Manufacturers’ Championship, adding more podiums and stage wins to its tally. For its third season in WRC, Hyundai Motorsport has developed a brand new car, the New Generation i20 WRC, which made its rally debut with a podium finish in Rallye Monte-Carlo in January 2016. The team registered its first win with the new car in Rally Argentina, the fourth round of the season.

Further information about Hyundai Motorsport is available at: http://motorsport.hyundai.com

Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is committed to becoming a lifetime partner in

About Hyundai Motor

automobiles and beyond. The company leads the Hyundai Motor Group, an innovative business structure capable of circulating resources from molten iron to finished cars. Hyundai Motor has eight manufacturing bases and seven design & technical centers worldwide and in 2015 sold 4.96 million vehicles globally. With more than 110,000 employees worldwide, Hyundai Motor continues to enhance its product line-up with localised models and strives to strengthen its leadership in clean technology, starting with the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen-powered vehicle, Tucson Fuel Cell and IONIQ, the world’s first model with three electrified powertrains.

More information about Hyundai Motor and its products can be found at: http://worldwide.hyundai.com or http://globalpr.hyundai.com/ To download high-resolution photos for editorial use and complete press information about the WRC and Customer Racing projects, please refer to:https://motorsport.hyundai.com/en/press

http://globalpr.hyundai.com/

Username : HyundaiWRC Password : hmsg2013For individual information please contact:

Thomas Villette Nicoletta RussoPhone: +49-151 1135 4339 Phone: +49-151 1135 [email protected] [email protected]

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