2023-06-27 12:57:05
Hyundai will carry out a thorough analysis of the reliability problems encountered during the Safari Rally, which have been a “red flag” for the team.
By: Tom Howard, News editor Co-author: Fabien Gaillard
40m
The weaknesses of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 became clear in Kenya last weekend, whenEsapekka Lappi suffered three driveshaft failures, followed by another problem that deprived the Finn of two-wheel drive. Lappi was unable to complete any runs in the shakedown following two transmission failures, while the third robbed him of a third-place finish on his debut in the African event.
In addition to Lappi’s problem, Thierry Neuville had to retire on Friday when his left front suspension broke. The Belgian rejoined the rally to finish eighth, before being disqualified from the event for breaching recce rules.
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Dani Deaf put in the team’s best performance in Kenya finishing fifth, more than five minutes behind the winner, Sebastien Ogier.
Hyundai deployed control measures to fix the driveshaft problem in the short term, but these did not work. However, the team plans to implement other solutions before the round in Estonia next month, without resorting to an emergency homologation wild card.
The team’s new technical director, François-Xavier Demaison, told Motorsport.com that it would be unlikely to be able to introduce a redesigned tree, if necessary, before the October homologation wildcard window.
“I think we needed a wake-up call or what we sometimes call a ‘hot platform’ to make some changes that need to be made now that we have the management in place, and we are well aware of the weaknesses of the car, which are related to certain weaknesses of the mindset that was in place up to that point”Cyril Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.
Dani Sordo during the Safari Rally.
“We have no excuse not to make the necessary changes and that is what we will do alongside containment measures for the next rally and a major engineering effort to get to the root of this very strange problem which focused on one car. But it’s a Kenyan mystery. It’s really bizarre what happened and we will take it very seriously, and we will provide the appropriate response.”
“We have to react in a strong way, but not in the same way that this team has been used to reacting in the past. We completely agree that we have to have a solid and structured approach and not not react in spurts, so I don’t think we’ll need to use the emergency wild card we have.”
“We have to understand the situation well and make sure we have a mastery plan for the next rallies and a medium and long term plan. It also starts with something that has never been done before, namely a thorough, honest and complete analysis of the failure.”
When asked if he had any concerns regarding Neuville’s suspension, Abiteboul added: “It’s a check we need to do more often. It’s an easy problem to fix and it’s not a handling issue, so I have absolutely no concerns regarding it.”
“It’s one of the things that shows that as a motorsport organisation, if we want to fight for the championship, we have to put in the extra effort. That’s what we missed, especially on Thierry’s car, but not on Esapekka’s car, because we did our best and changed everything we might. I think that extra discipline is needed.”
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