Brand new to the FIA WRC calendar, Rally Latvia will challenge all the crews

Hyundai Motorsport sets its sights on the new addition to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar, Rally Latvia (July 18-21), looking to put some more distance between the team and its rivals in all three championships.

Rally Latvia is a fast gravel event where precise pace notes will be vital to success. This places greater emphasis on the recce of the event, where crews will have only one pass to gather the information they need. The demands are not limited to its unknown surface and layout: Latvia’s unique itinerary features very few repeat passes of stages. This means crews not only have more stages to prepare before the event begins, but it is also harder for them to get into a rhythm or apply learnings from one attempt to another.

Returning for the weekend to represent Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team alongside Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe and Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja will be Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm. This will be Lappi’s third event of the 2024 season after outings at Rally Sweden, where the Finn finished first, and Safari Rally Kenya.

After a tough weekend at Rally Poland, championship leaders Thierry Neuville looks to maintain the lead in the drivers’ standings, while Ott Tänak heads into the weekend currently third. Rally Latvia provides a great opportunity for Tänak close the six-point gap to second, but also for Hyundai Motorsport to pull further away from the rest of the field in the manufacturers’ championship.

For a new rally, it is vital that all three crews have confidence in the car to hit the ground running in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid from the very first stage. Both Tänak and Lappi have undertaken preparation for Latvia by attending other rallies that have similar conditions to the upcoming event: Tänak at Rally Estonia and Lappi at Lietuva Rally in Lithuania. While Tänak was unfortunately forced to retire from his event on the opening day of action, he did complete the full shakedown. This important mileage will stand him in good stead for the next two high-speed events.

Hyundai Motorsport President and Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said on the lead up to the Rally:

“Rally Latvia is quite different from the events we have experienced so far this season, with a challenging itinerary, so our preparation will be key for success. This weekend will demand a lot from all the crews, but all three drivers are motivated to perform well and continue to extend the gap between us and our rivals. We know how important it is to have a clean weekend at rallies like this to ensure we bring home as many points as possible – even the smallest of mistakes are harshly punished at these fast-paced events, so we need to minimise our errors and focus on a strong result.”

Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)

• Belgian duo remain at the top of the standings, 15 points clear of nearest competitor
• Crew motivated to take the fight to its rivals in brand-new event

Neuville said: “Rally Latvia is going to be another challenging rally, and it is always more difficult when you are first on the road and the first to discover the conditions. We know the surface of the event is very similar to Estonia, maybe even a bit faster, but Poland has helped us to prepare for a fast rally after a series of slower, more technical events. We’ve been watching a lot of onboard footage from other championships to learn the characteristics, the itinerary, and start to get a feel for tyre choices and set-up. I’m mainly focused on my two main championship rivals and trying to take more points from them, but it will be difficult – the cleaning will be massive, some stages aren’t repeated, and a lot of fast part-time drivers will be there, so while our expectations are not so high our motivation is to finish ahead of our rivals is strong.”

Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (#8 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)

• Estonian duo ready to take on fast profile of Latvia
• Crew looking for redemption after unfulfilled Poland potential

Tänak said: “I like driving these types of profiles, but while I have competed at this event in the past I haven’t been there for over ten years. The roads are very similar to what we have seen in previous rounds such as Poland, where we had a very successful Sunday, and surface-wise it is comparable to our home event in Estonia. We weren’t able to demonstrate our full potential in Poland after our retirement on Friday, so hopefully Latvia will be a smoother ride. It is hard to say what to expect from the weekend but we will try to extract the most out of Rally Latvia.”

Crew Notes: Esapekka Lappi/ Janne Ferm (#4 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)

• Crew back behind the wheel of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid for third WRC event
• Lietuva Rally appearance vital part of Finns’ preparation

Lappi said: “We competed at Rally Latvia in 2014, however it was a winter event at that time so we won’t be able to transfer so much of our experience from so long ago. I’ve been studying a lot of videos and onboards from recent years, as well as discussing the characteristics and potential setup of the car with our engineer. Our Lithuanian rally will be very helpful, as seat time is crucial to get used to high-speed roads, and our last event was in Kenya – a very different rally to Latvia. We’re targeting the podium – everything is possible at an event like this.”

Weekend at a Glance

• Rally Latvia commences on Thursday morning with a Shakedown, followed by SS1 Bikernieki Track (11.13km) in the evening.
• Friday, the longest day of the weekend, will feature eight stages, with only two remote tyre fitting zones splitting the 120.92km competitive distance
• Saturday will see crews tackle eight stages, six of which are contested only once, meaning crews will be venturing into the unknown for most of the day
• All eyes will be on the teams entering Sunday’s running, as the final service for the weekend will take place on Saturday evening, leaving a 64.08km distance to compete on the closing day of the event.