Hyundai takes debut Tour de Corse podium as Neuville secures second

Hyundai Motorsport has achieved its pre-event objectives of a podium finish in this weekend’s Tour de Corse as Thierry Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul finished in second position on the overall classification.

The Belgian crew put in a faultless performance over ten long stages to secure their fourth podium result of 2016 - and the eighth podium result in total for Hyundai Motorsport this season.

Sunday morning’s itinerary consisted of two stages but crews weren’t able to completely relax. The 53.78km Antisanti - Poggio di Nozza - the longest stage of the entire rally - started things off ahead of the rally-concluding Porto-Vecchio - Palombaggia Power Stage.

All three New Generation i20 WRCs completed the rally on a positive note with Hayden Paddon and John Kennard finishing in sixth place, just ahead of Dani Sordo and Marc Martí. The result moves Hyundai Motorsport onto 227 points in the WRC Manufacturers’ Championship, three more than its 2015 total, cementing second position.

Hyundai Shell World Rally Team driver Neuville (#3 New Generation i20 WRC) was the closest challenger to rally winner Sébastien Ogier all weekend and fought hard to hold second place. He further extended his lead over third placed Andreas Mikkelsen to 23.6s on Sunday’s final stages, and has now jumped up to third in the Drivers’ Championship on 112 points.

Neuville said: “It has been a very positive and competitive weekend. We have made no mistakes in some tricky but enjoyable stages; it was pretty much the perfect event, really. Everyone in the team has done a good job, and I’m happy with what we have achieved. The New Generation i20 WRC has had great pace, as we have seen from some of the stage times. We were able to build a gap over Andreas on Saturday so we just had to stay focused on our driving in the final stages to bring the car home. Working with my new engineer, we have made continuous improvements to the car so I’m satisfied with the weekend. We’ve built some excellent momentum since Sardinia so I hope we can continue in this direction as we look ahead to Spain.”

Paddon (#20 New Generation i20 WRC) found competitive form on Sunday as he finished the gruelling SS9 in second place. The Kiwi, scoring for the Hyundai Mobis World Rally Team in Corsica, closed the gap to fifth-placed Craig Breen from 37.8s to 17.5s with a measured performance in the final two stages.

Paddon said: “We had a much stronger finish to the rally after a tough two days. It’s been a case of going back to the basics to try and find a way forward. Looking at the results from this morning’s two stages, I’d say that we’ve made a step in the right direction. Second place on the long opening stage was much more like where we want to be. That gives us confidence as we prepare for Spain.”

Sordo (#4 New Generation i20 WRC) could arguably have fought for the podium had it not been for losing two minutes through a puncture on Friday afternoon. The Spanish crew showed their potential with second place in SS8 on Saturday afternoon but had to settle for seventh overall.

Sordo said: “A really frustrating weekend for us after the puncture on Friday afternoon. That ended any chance we had of finishing on the podium. We have shown on occasions what would have been possible without that two-minute time loss. We’ve had some encouraging stages as well as some difficult ones, but we have to put this down to experience and move on. The next rally is my home event in Spain so I’ll come back fighting!”

Hyundai Motorsport has now taken podium finishes in four consecutive WRC events following a win in Sardinia, third in Poland and its double top-three finish in Germany. With three events remaining on the 2016 calendar, there are plenty more opportunities to continue this trend.

Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “It’s fantastic to continue our podium run. Tour de Corse is a very hard event but we have seen good pace from our New Generation i20 WRCs. The weekend was not without a few dramas for our crews, but particularly for Hayden and Dani. They have both persevered to finish the rally on this morning’s final two stages. Thierry has had a very competitive weekend. He has consistently been the closest challenger to Ogier, from which we take a lot of satisfaction. We will do all we can to build further on these recent results in the remaining rounds of the Championship. All our crews - and indeed all of our team - will be aiming for another podium in Spain.”

There’s not much time for respite as Rally de España takes place from 13-16 October. The 11th round of the 2016 Championship will see Hyundai Motorsport fielding four cars with Kevin Abbring and Seb Marshall returning to the WRC team after a weekend of R5 action in Corsica.