Hyundai team principal Andrea Adamo is increasingly famed for his uncompromising stance on performance. He doesn’t do pulling punches – not even when it comes to his WRC 2-bound Hyundai Motorsport N.
The factory i20 R5s might represent two-thirds of the class entry (and Nikolay Gryazin and Ole Christian Veiby are genuinely two of the three WRC 2 drivers – with Pontus Tidemand’s Toksport-run Škoda Fabia R5 evo the only other registered car), but Adamo has left his juniors in no doubt what he wants from them.
They didn’t win round one or round two. So he wants something to change at this week’s Rally México.
“We expect our two WRC 2 crews to make a step forward in performance in Mexico,” said Adamo, “even if it [the rally] will be new experience for them. There’s no question it is a challenging event, but that’s what the WRC is all about. And why we are here.”
Gryazin or Veiby is more than capable of winning this week. And so is Tidemand, with the Swede probably enjoying shorter odds having competed in Guanajuato in 2017 and 2018.
Such a limited field in WRC 2 will arguably shift the focus away from outright performance and onto durability and driver ability. Hyundai’s duo are both talented youngsters, but this week they’ve got to show head as well as heart and a heavy right foot. Rally México in an R5 car is always a thinker’s event. The high altitude stages hit these cars much harder than the World Rally Cars up front and understanding how to best use the limited power available is vital to landing a result.
Patience is another vital virtue this week. Keeping the car straight, neat and tidy will pay dividends – but you’ve got to be ready to let somebody get up and run; you’ve got to keep the faith and remember the faster they run, the more risk they’re taking. You only get away with those risks for so long in his part of the world.
Of the two Hyundai runners, Veiby’s had the best result from the first two rounds, overcoming a crash in Monte Carlo to run Mads Østberg a close second in Sweden. Gryazin was third in Monte then stopped to change a puncture on round two, finishing sixth.
Tidemand was third on his appearance with the Germany-based Toksport team.
In WRC 3, an 11-strong entry is headed by Oliver Solberg in his Volkswagen Polo R5. The 18-year-old is starting just his fourth WRC round and his first in Mexico, where father Petter won 15 years ago.
Solberg made his competitive debut in a factory-supported Fabia R5 evo in Sweden, and was restricted to fifth place when he suffered a final-stage puncture. While the terrain will be foreign to Solberg Jr, he will be more familiar with the Polo he’s pedalling this week.
Like the rest of the field, Solberg has the ability to make serious top-of-the-table inroads, with joint leaders Eric Camilli and Jari Huttunen (winners in Monte and Sweden respectively) both absent.
Local hero Benito Guerra returns with a Fabia R5 as does three-time European Rally champion Kajto Kajetanowicz. Chilean star Alberto Heller had been hoping to use this week as a limbering up exercise for his home WRC round, but the loss of the Concepcion-based counter means the Ford Fiesta R5 MkII driver really needs to make one of two not three (don’t forget Rally Argentina) trips to the Americas count.
New York-based Irishman Barry McKenna makes the trip south for Mexico, driving a Fabia R5. McKenna has shown real speed in the American Rally Association in recent years and will be looking to see how that pace translates to the highest level.
