Weight reduction and a revised suspension layout are the two key areas Hyundai looked to improve with its updated World Rally Championship challenger.
Hyundai is debuting a revised version of its i20 N Rally1 at this week’s Rally Sweden, after months and months of secrecy over the nature of the planned upgrades.
A new suspension setup, featuring angled dampers rather than a vertical setup, was rumored, along with tweaks to the transmission to improve power delivery and reliability.
On the eve of Rally Sweden, Hyundai’s chief WRC engineer, Gerard Jan de Jongh, told DirtFish that suspension kinematics and weight reductions are the ‘fundamentals’ of the upgrade.
The idea is to make the car faster but also far more predictable with a wider operating window – with a particular focus on fast, smooth gravel rallies in Finland.
“From using this car since 2022, of course in the beginning there was a lot of focus on the hybrid system and optimizing that, but we also quite quickly realized that there was a performance deficit on, let’s say, smooth gravel rallies like Finland compared to the Toyota,” Jan de Jongh said.
Hyundai has typically struggled on fast, smooth gravel events like Rally Finland
“From our analysis we thought it was aero, so in the first year we did some aero upgrades and we got our hybrid system in a better place. But then still after two or three years or so when Ott [Tänak] came back, we still felt that our car was lacking the most on, let’s say, that type of rally.
“So then from our analysis we asked ‘what can we do to improve the mechanical grip?’ So that’s when we started looking at how can we improve certain things on the suspension kinematics, and how can we lay out parts differently that we’re also able to reduce the weight a little bit.
“And that’s basically the fundamental of what this upgrade is all about. So one part is weight reduction. The other part is simply suspension layout.”
Hyundai started working on the upgrade package towards the end of 2023, and expects it “to be a benefit everywhere” and not just on the fast, smooth rallies.
It had hoped to homologate the car sooner, but an evolving political picture made the path “rocky”.
Jan de Jongh explained: “Of course what has been different in this process is we’ve also been exploring how can we best do this, so there was also a political process.
“What can we do? Can we homologate a different car? Can we not? How can we use our possibilities the best? In the end the path we traveled was a bit rocky – you know there was a lot of direction changes also from a regulatory perspective.
“Sometimes there was a hybrid, sometimes not, so that led to some some, let’s say, deviations and sometimes dead ends of the path and that’s why it took maybe a little bit longer than normally.”
Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak have both given considerable input into the new car, as well as Adrien Fourmaux and some of Hyundai’s part-time drivers from 2024.
“I think with a rally car, you need the drivers on board. It’s very, very important,” Jan de Jongh said.
“Rally is a sport where the confidence of the driver is super important. So, yeah, you can look at the data, you can look at your test fix and think, ‘ah, we think this is better’, and that’s good to develop a concept. But you need to put it on the car, and you need to compare it, and you need to let the guys drive it and then come to their conclusion.
“And I think our approach is very much we would not bring an upgrade that cost that much – not in money but joker terms, it’s an expensive upgrade – if we would not have the support of our drivers.
“At the end of the day, they are the key in rally to performance. So if they would not have been happy, we would not have been talking about this.”
What do the drivers think?
Neuville in particular has been coy in response to any questions about the updated car, and initially kept the act up in Sweden.
“I don’t know. It looks very similar to the other one, doesn’t it?” he grinned.
Jovial Neuville had been deflecting queries about the updated i20 N Rally1
Fourmaux was similarly playful: “They made a rocket, now they need an astronaut!” he laughed.
But in the end, Neuville explained that the new car felt good in testing, but that a massive step forward should not be expected.
“I mean, yeah, there are some changes of course, but we need to see during the weekend where are the benefits of it,” Neuville told DirtFish.
“It felt good for all of us during the testing. But again, people expect big steps, but in the end it’s more small details we improve. I mean, we’re at the highest level of this sport, and we wouldn’t be there if the car would have been bad before.
“So there’s not big steps we can gain anymore, especially with technical regulations as well which basically are very restricted.
“We did some changes on, in general, the chassis, the weight, the dampers and the uprights, so small changes.”
Neuville confirmed that all the drivers worked on the upgrades “together” and that “we all liked the changes”.
He continued: “I think we have seen every year a couple of events where we struggle on the hard, slippery surface, and that’s definitely where we wanted to improve the car.
Tänak needed the car to feel easier to drive
“Those two or three events in the year, I mean basically Finland and Chile last year as well. Those conditions I think we improved the car so that was one of the targets.
“But yeah, you don’t get things for free – you can have things better but on the other side it might be a bit worse and a compromise and that’s what we have worked around to find the best solution.”
Tänak said he “feels a bit more familiar” in the car now after the changes.
“You always ask for more,” he told DirtFish. “You would like always to have as easy a car to drive as possible. For me, always in the rallying, it’s more about how easy it is to drive than actually really the pure performance.
“But still, I think we’ve done some good steps in a good direction. I definitely feel a bit more familiar in the car. But still, we’ve been only driving in our base center, not so much on the other roads. So I guess we will find out much more during this weekend.”
Asked if it does feel easier to drive, Tänak added: “Yeah, I think it’s in a good direction. And I definitely feel better in the car. What’s the performance in the end? This is something we’ll see.”
