Carsales Staff•30 May 2013
NEWS
Hyundai's i20 rally rocket to take the stage
The Monte Carlo Rally, first WRC round of 2014, will see Hyundai's i20 make its debutHyundai has let its World Rally Championship i20 race car off the leash for the first time, successfully undertaking a 550 kilometre shakedown in Germany.
The hard-charging Hyundai i20 WRC is powered by a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine and carries the full might of the Korean company's financial muscle behind it, with big things predicted for its debut in the 2014 WRC.
Based – very loosely, judging by these pics – on the $15,990 Hyundai i20 three-door light hatch, the tough-as-nails i20 WRC underwent three days of driving on a private testing ground in what Michel Nandan, the race team's principal, describes as "an intensive testing schedule for the rest of 2013."
According to Nandan, as quoted in a press release issued by the company, the program for the remainder of this year is demanding on the team and its resources to ensure the car and its crews are fully equipped for whatever the World Rally Championship can throw at them. The team faces a lot of travel in the second half of this year.
"It will take us to different venues across Europe, to evaluate the i20 WRC in different conditions and on different terrains, which reflect the variety of circumstances we will encounter in the World Rally Championship next year," Nandan said.
Several different set ups have been tried and tested with every rebound of the suspension and slap of the four-cylinder engine datalogged for dissemination by Hyundai Motorsport's boffins.
"The learning from the first tests for me is quite positive," Nandan said. "We have now a lot of useful feedback to digest for the next steps of our preparation."
Despite the timing of the i20 WRC's unveiling, the team has been working on the car since January.
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Written byCarsales Staff
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