Rallye Monte-Carlo – Day Two
Hyundai Motorsport finds itself in podium contention after the first full day of action at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season-opener, with Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe holding third place overall.
The Belgian crew are involved in a close tussle for second with reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä, with only 1.9 seconds splitting the two crews. Further down the classification, Dani Sordo and Cándido Carrera are in sixth spot, with Hyundai Motorsport newbies Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm in eighth position.
As daylight broke over the Monaco harbour on Friday morning, Hyundai Motorsport’s skilled engineers and mechanics readied the three Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid cars for a complete day of action. Cars departed service for the 84km liaison route to Roure for a trio of timed tests held on tight, twisty roads in the Alpes-Maritimes, north-west of the Monaco service park: Roure / Roubion / Beuil (SS3/SS6, 18.33km), Puget-Théniers / Saint-Antonin (SS4/SS7, 19.79km) and Briançonnet / Entrevaux (SS5/SS8, 14.55km).
Crews would have only a tyre fitting zone in the picturesque Puget-Théniers village to separate the two loops – a total competitive distance of 105.34km. Giving their midday views at the media zone, drivers reflected on a tricky morning in which tyre strategies were varied.
Opting for three soft and three super soft sets of Pirelli tyres for the morning loop, Neuville made his way up to second overall heading into the lunchtime period. Sordo and Lappi were both left searching for more pace but showing their determination. The afternoon stages painted a similar picture as the crews completed another challenging day unscathed, but with plenty of room for improvement over the next two days.
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Belgians moved up to second by lunchtime service with a mixed tyre choice
- Despite dropping to third, the crew ended Friday just 1.9s adrift of second place
Neuville said: “I think a good resume for the day would be to say we’ve maximised all we could in the circumstances, especially if we take our tyre choice in the morning into account. We expected better pace in the afternoon but there wasn’t more to find. I tried to push a couple of times, but we were missing a bit. We had very stable conditions between both loops; perhaps the final stage of the day was a bit dirtier than the morning but generally things have been straightforward. Tyre choice has made it more difficult because we’ve had to manage things carefully. Nobody can be truly confident in Monte. Tomorrow is another long day, in fact a longer loop than today, with more abrasive stages and possibly higher temperatures. We hope for a good strategy.”
Crew Notes: Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (#6 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Spaniards struggled for pace despite having a good feeling in the car
- Sordo will seek a new approach for Saturday, the longest individual day of the rally
Sordo said: “Honestly speaking, it has been quite a disappointing day. I had a good feeling with the car because the stages were nice to drive and in really good condition; I don’t know why, but we were just too slow. I haven’t had the precision that I needed, and we were losing the same amount of time on each stage. We could make a few adjustments to the car in between stages but it was difficult to get the feeling on the narrow roads and through the slow corners. It hasn’t felt bad; it's just not been fast, we will try to do something in service, analyse things closely and make some changes to the car. Tomorrow is another day, and we will try to unlock some more speed.”
Crew Notes: Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (#4 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Finns found some improvements as they searched for more confidence
- Better pace on SS5/SS8 (Briançonnet/Entrevaux) showed encouraging signs
Lappi said: “We have had the same challenges today as we had on Thursday; I have been too slow everywhere and generally too shy to make the entries of the corners fast enough. The car doesn’t feel too bad but for some reason the times are going away too quickly. We need to find out why. We made some changes throughout the day, and made a good step with the suspension, but we need to find more. We also must consider that we’ve been better on the final stage of the loop maybe because we have more performance left in our tyres. It’s a possibility. We will analyse the data with the engineers this evening; it might be a long night, but we need to try and improve, it’s the only way forward.”
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “It’s difficult to find the same summary for all three of our crews. Thierry had a solid day. It was pretty straightforward; we had a plan, we stuck to it, and we made it work, admittedly supported by the conditions and some difficulties for our competitors. The car performance is there or thereabouts with Thierry, and we can fight for the podium. We have been a bit conservative on occasions, carrying two spare tyres and with the set-up. We are playing a long game, but now we want to start to be more aggressive. On the other side, with Dani and Esapekka, we are trying to support them to find more confidence in the car. One of the main things I am learning in WRC is the longer days, and not having many opportunities to sit down with crews after a stage. I am looking forward to catching up with them properly this evening to see how we can make the car better to give them what is missing. We are here to be competitive, and we’ve seen there is performance potential in the car, so we need to make sure that happens more often.”
Saturday at a Glance
- The longest itinerary of the weekend, Saturday’s schedule covers another repeated loop of three stages, over a competitive distance of 111.78km
- The day opens with Le Fugeret / Thorame-Haute (16.80km) before moving onto Malijai / Puimichel (17.31km) and the longest stage of the day, Ubraye / Entrevaux (21.78km)
- As on Friday, there will be no lunchtime service with crews revisiting Puget-Théniers for a tyre fitting zone to split morning and afternoon loops
Classification after Day Two
| 1 | S. Ogier | V. Landais | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | 1:26:39.4 |
| 2 | K. Rovanperä | J. Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +36.0 |
| 3 | T. Neuville | M. Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +37.9 |
| 4 | O. Tänak | M. Järveoja | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +54.2 |
| 5 | E. Evans | S. Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +1:02.3 |
| 6 | D. Sordo | C. Carrera | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +1:30.2 |
| 7 | T. Katsuta | A. Johnston | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +1:33.1 |
| 8 | E. Lappi | J. Ferm | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +1:57.7 |
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