Aiming for both WRC championships in 2018
2017 was our most competitive year in the WRC, but we are ready to raise the bar even higher for the 2018 season! Our championship ambitions are still unfulfilled but we hope our fifth season in world rallying will deliver the goods.
“We are in high spirits,” explains our Team Principal Michel Nandan. “We came close in 2017 but we fell short in terms of performance and consistency. We want to rectify that.”
Four crews will compete under the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team banner this season: Andreas and Anders, Thierry and Nicolas, Hayden and Seb, Dani and Carlos. Each will contribute to our championship objectives over the 13-event calendar.
“Taking four wins in 2017, and being competitive in many other events, gives us real motivation to go one better,” reveals last year’s championship runner-up Thierry. “As a team, we keep getting stronger with each season. I feel it’s our time to shine.”
Andreas, who only joined us for the final three rounds of the 2017 campaign, begins a full season in Hyundai Motorsport colours: “This is the moment I have been waiting for!” he says. “Those three rallies were really useful for Anders and me. I am now ready to attack with confidence.”
With our Norwegian crew in the #4 car and our Belgians back in their preferred #5, our third car will be shared between two crews. Dani and his new co-driver Carlos will take the #6 car in Monte-Carlo, handing over to Hayden and Seb for Sweden.
“The progress the team has made since 2014 has been incredible,” says Dani. “I feel very loyal to my Hyundai Motorsport family and I am 100% committed to giving everything I have in the rallies I join.”
Hayden adds: “I am treating 2018 almost like a fresh start after our difficulties from last year. I want to put that behind me and use the positives from our podium results to spur us on to achieve what I know we are capable of.”
As we prepare to join the season launch alongside our rivals and colleagues from the WRC community at Autosport International, the final word goes to Michel.
“We are very respectful of our rivals,” he says. “Their performances only serve to make us try to improve ourselves from one event to the next. This is what drives us forward as we work towards our ultimate championship goals.”
