Hyundai Motorsport has finished this
weekend’s Rally Finland, round 8 of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC)
in fourth place after a trouble-free final day.
The Hyundai Motorsport team has
claimed its third consecutive top-four finish in the 2015 FIA World Rally
Championship (WRC) as Thierry Neuville (#7 Hyundai i20 WRC) finished Rally
Finland just outside the podium positions in fourth place.
After a
difficult rally, the two remaining Hyundai i20 WRC cars
completed today’s final stages, two runs of the 14.40km Myhinpää stage, with a
deliberately cautious approach from the drivers, as the team added valuable
points to its Manufacturers’ total.
Dani
Sordo (#8 Hyundai
i20 WRC) completed the rally in 11th place after his off on Saturday afternoon
dropped him out of contention for the top-five. A two-car finish was the team’s
revised target following the unfortunate retirement of Hayden Paddon on Friday,
and although the outright pace was not enough to challenge for the podium, the
team has still made improvements throughout the weekend.
Thierry Neuville (#7 Hyundai i20 WRC)
For
Neuville, the result helps to cement his fifth place in the drivers’ standings
and comes after a steady run for the Belgian this weekend. A crash in Thursday
morning’s shakedown dented his confidence but he has picked up the pace over
the weekend, culminating in a solid finish today.
Neuville
said: “To finish in fourth place is not a bad result considering the start we
had to this rally! The team did an incredible job to fix our Hyundai i20 WRC after our
crash in shakedown and we have since worked hard to regain the feeling with the
car on these fantastic stages. We couldn’t really have expected anything better
than fourth place this weekend. We can’t be completely happy but it’s a decent
finish and, most importantly, we’ve picked up some good manufacturer points.
Thanks to the team for their support this weekend, we must now look towards
Germany and hope to challenge closer to the podium.”
Dani Sordo (#8 Hyundai i20 WRC)
Sordo
was on course for a top-five result this weekend but an incident at the start
of Saturday afternoon’s loop ended the Spaniard’s charge. He lost five minutes
of time rescuing his car which
dropped him down the classification but his resilience and determination
allowed him to salvage a finish just outside of the top ten.
Sordo
said: “It’s been a disappointing end to the rally for me. I was improving my
confidence levels stage by stage and was enjoying the contention for fifth
place with Thierry. Unfortunately, we lost five or six minutes recovering the
car from the ditch which put an end to our ambitions for a good result. We had nothing
to really push for today so we took it easy and brought the car home safely. We
can now prepare for Rallye Deutschland with optimism and we have some happy
memories from last year - I’m looking forward to it.”
The Hyundai Motorsport team
Rally
Finland is always a test of the drivers and this weekend’s event has proved
once again that a driver’s confidence level can make all the difference. The Hyundai
Motorsport team has worked hard to improve the performance of the Hyundai i20
WRC throughout the event’s 20 special stages and fourth place marks an
improvement over the team’s sixth place twelve months ago.
Team
Principal Michel Nandan said: “We can be reasonably satisfied with fourth place
in Finland after a tricky rally which has required all drivers to really dig
deep to build their confidence. Following the disappointment on Friday when
Hayden was forced to retire, we focused on getting two http://www.garyromehyundai.com/finance/cars
to the end of the rally and we have managed that - although with a few
incidents along the way. Thierry has worked calmly and steadily this weekend
after his shakedown crash on Thursday and his fourth place is a reward for that
approach. Dani lost contact with the top-five yesterday afternoon and could not
regain positions today. We must look at this rally closely to understand where
we can improve as a team because our overall pace was not enough to fight for
the podium, which is where we want to be. We will all look forward to Germany -
a special event for our team!”
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