“Nobody knows it”: Thierry Neuville reveals Hyundai’s helplessness

– The gap between Toyota and Hyundai became clearly apparent last weekend at the Canary Islands Rally, the fifth round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). Thierry Neuville stated after the disappointing performance that currently “nobody knows” how to solve the performance problems of the Hyundai team in the WRC.

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“It’s hard to describe feelings about this weekend. We came here knowing we wouldn’t be very competitive. Furthermore, despite all attempts, I never got a good feeling for the car,” said Neuville, who sometimes drove slower times than last year. “We are far from the level we once had with the car. It’s very frustrating. In Croatia, we saw a little light at the end of the tunnel and then it disappeared again.”

Hyundai is still waiting for its first victory this season. The recent round in the Canary Islands once again highlighted the Korean brand’s deficit to Toyota. Hyundai and Neuville came closest to success earlier this month on the asphalt of Croatia. There, the 2024 world champion led until the final stage before a mistake handed the victory to Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta.

The performance in the Canary Islands was, as expected, difficult for Hyundai, as smooth asphalt is considered the i20 N’s biggest weakness. After Toyota celebrated a quadruple success last year, the team repeated this feat last weekend, winning all 17 special stages.

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Adrien Fourmaux was again the best Hyundai driver in fifth place, but was more than three minutes behind winner Sebastien Ogier. Although Hyundai introduced upgrades to the front of the car this year, the gap even widened compared to last year. Neuville, in particular, is struggling with the car’s balance.

Asked if he knew the reason for the misery, Neuville replied: “Nobody knows. I don’t know how to improve the car, the engineers don’t know, my teammates don’t know.”

Complex tuning problem with the i20 N

Hyundai Motorsport Director Andrew Wheatley admitted that the performance was as expected, considering the current puzzle surrounding the i20 N’s consistent speed. “It was as expected, but one of the positives is that we came here with the clear goal of minimizing mistakes. We achieved that, and that’s thanks to the hard work of the team,” said Wheatley.

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He emphasized the difficulty of the situation: “It’s collectively frustrating for the team and it’s not due to a lack of will. It’s clearly a complex matter. We’ve been working on it for a year, and if it were easy, we would have fixed it eleven months ago. It’s not a problem that’s easy to solve.”

“Several drivers have tried and several engineers have tried. The car is really fast within its operating window, but the difficulty is that special stages don’t take place in narrow windows. You need a lot of adaptability in the car,” said Wheatley.

Hope for the gravel season

Hyundai is nevertheless optimistic about turning the season around when the championship starts its first pure gravel rally of the year next week in Portugal. Last year, the i20 N fought for victory there, and recent tests give the team new courage.

“We have to be realistic. Beating five Toyotas on any surface is not easy. We know we have the potential and that we have improved reliability. We have three drivers who are super motivated and ready,” added Wheatley.

Neuville also looks cautiously optimistic after a positive gravel test before the Canary Islands weekend: “It’s good to be optimistic, because that helps us move forward. But we shouldn’t be too optimistic either. We have to keep both feet on the ground and we are facing a very strong competitor who is doing everything right. They are five cars, we are three. We might have more speed, but the rally is long. The feeling in the test was good and if we can confirm that, it will be positive.”

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