A difficult outing in Finland for Hyundai Motorsport has ended with Neuville/Wydaeghe in sixth and Tänak/Järveoja in tenth

Hyundai Motorsport has completed a weekend to forget at Rally Finland with Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe the highest placed crew in sixth.

Just one stage was contested twice on Super Sunday – the iconic Ouninpohja (SS19/20, 23.98km), the longest test of the rally. Featuring the driest conditions of the entire event, it was a flat out run to the Finnish finish line.

Neuville and Wydaeghe refused to be deflated by their Saturday saga and came back fighting on Sunday. After a clean first pass of Ouninpohja, it all came down to the final stage. The Belgians claimed the fourth fastest time to score two Power Stage points, as well as the final place in the Super Sunday classification. This increased their Finnish haul to 11 championship points to remain fifth in the drivers’ standings.

As the first WRC car on the road, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja faced an uphill battle to salvage points from Finland. A final twist was in store; their tyre delaminated in the Power Stage, causing them to spin. They managed to complete the stage, and following the retirement of their team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria, Tänak and Järveoja claimed tenth place. They have fallen to fourth in the overall drivers’ standings, but are on equal points with Sébastien Ogier in third.

Fourmaux and Coria had a solid start to the final day, claiming provisional fifth in the Super Sunday standings on the first stage. However, the French Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team crew endured their second puncture of the weekend on the Power Stage. Losing time and dropping out of contention for bonus points, the crew elected to retire their car to have the option of a fresh engine for the next rounds of the season.

The final result in Finland does not reflect the true performance of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 crews, who once again demonstrated the improved package of the car on fast gravel roads. The team was on course for a strong result prior to the punctures of Neuville and Fourmaux on Saturday’s SS16, and will now regroup and refocus on a competitive showing in the South American double header.

Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#1 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)

• Belgians claimed two stage wins and 11 top-three stage times in Finland
• Fourth in Power Stage and fifth in Super Sunday

Neuville said: “We were at the front of the field for most of the weekend, but suddenly we found ourselves out of the fight and it was hard to come back from that today. In the end, we took three points from Super Sunday, which was the maximum we could do. It’s hard when we are all giving it everything we have, but things are just not going our way. All we could do is have some fun in the Power Stage and look forward to the next rounds.”

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

• Early road order hampered Finnish fight for Estonians
• Crew now fourth in standings, on equal points with third place

Tänak said: “A difficult weekend, but what’s done is done, and now we focus on the next rounds. We’re going into rougher gravel events where we were very competitive at the start of the season, so I am expecting to be back on the pace again. The team had some small troubles that had big consequences, but that’s rallying – it can be cruel, but it is the nature of this sport. The championship is still open, so the fight is still on.”

Crew Notes: Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (#16 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)

• Frustrating Finland ends in retirement on Power Stage
• Frenchman had been running in third until Saturday tyre trouble

Fourmaux said: “In terms of performance, it has been a good rally for us, but a difficult one in terms of the result. We were unlucky with punctures on Saturday afternoon and again on the Power Stage, which stopped us from scoring good points. That aside, I’m happy with how we performed in Finland; there are a lot of positives for us to take into the upcoming rallies, where we should have a chance to score good points for the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championships.”

Hyundai Motorsport Technical Director François-Xavier Demaison said:

“We depart Rally Finland not with the result we expected, but we have shown strong performance and pace throughout this weekend. The punctures have tainted the overall picture, but there is a lot of encouraging points to take away; the car is fast, and we are testing next week to be ready for a good result at the next rally. Despite a tough event for Ott, he is still close in the championship fight; the remaining five rallies will be a tough battle, but we have high hopes. We go to Paraguay with all three of our cars in good road positions, so we should be competitive in the southern hemisphere.”

Next rally

• The FIA WRC moves to South America for Rally del Paraguay, the tenth round of the season, which will take place August 28-31.