Cyril Abiteboul and his troops cannot be blamed for not having tried everything to present themselves at the start of the Japan rally with the best chance of finishing. Before tackling this 13e and final round of the season, Hyundai Motorsport is 15 points ahead of Toyota in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Among the Drivers and Co-drivers, the situation is ideal since only a crew racing an i20 Rally1 will be able to be titled in 20 days. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe are in a very good position with a 25-unit margin over Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja.
In order to face the ultimate difficulty (21 SS, 302.50 km against the clock), the Korean team will field two i20 Rally1s at the start of the La Nucia-Mediterraneo Rally (November 8-9) including the 11 special stages (128 km timed) are traced north of the city of Alicante 530 km south of Barcelona.
As they did at Herbst in Austria (in the role of opener October 11-12) before tackling the Central Europe rally, the Neuville/Wydaeghe tandem will be at the start in Spain for this 30e edition which counts for the national championship on asphalt. The aim of this participation is to offer the Belgians the opportunity to keep the rhythm of the competition, which will place them in an ideal position at the start of Japan.
On this event which is based in La Nucia (a few kilometers north of Benidorm), they will be accompanied by Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen. By doing this, Hyundai intends to allow Norwegians to complete their acclimatization with the i20. In Japan, Mikkelsen will have the important mission of disrupting Toyota’s plans by taking as many points as possible on Saturday evening and Sunday. For his part, Neuville should be exempt from the fight for the Manufacturers’ championship unlike Ott Tänak who will find himself in a not very comfortable position since he will have to play his (slim!) chances of the Drivers’ title while ensuring the defense of his employer . The Estonian will only have one day of testing before Japan.
Furthermore, Dani Sordo will be at the start of another rally in Spain the following week. This time, the Spaniard’s participation in the Rally Ciudad de Pozoblanco (November 15-16) will have nothing to do with Japan since this race takes place on gravel. So little information circulates concerning the presence of Sordo on this 9e round of the Spain Superchampionship, it would not be surprising if this was part of the preparation for 2025 where Hyundai will field a car with several modifications. Will Dani also take the opportunity to drive without the hybrid in order to test the possible elimination of this technology in 2025? If this is the case, the Spaniard will have 7 SS and 98.38 km timed to provide useful lessons to his team.
Belgium
